Just reacting to the headline (not a telegraph reader). While initially the idea of energy security and base load power is attractive, having worked (as a contractor, long ago) on a nuclear power station simulator for a uk energy company, I came away with the idea that keeping the station running effectively (with maintenance and upgrades) was very difficult and expensive.

it also feels like a big security target when the uk is worried about both traditional enemies, the dependencies on other countries and companies. (See the worry about Chinese tech in our telecoms infrastructure.

Perhaps investing in multiple distributed facilities capable of grid level storage (of renewable energy, wind, solar) would be a much better investment for the country.

Maybe I am being unfair in comparison of old systems with the huge drop in costs of wind and solar. And while developments are happening in large scale storage are happening, it’s not quite a settled solution yet.