As with most technology, several decades of development means that modern nuclear power plants are a world away from the clunky behemoths in operation in Britain today.

Which just might placate some of the nuclear nay-sayers, who have concerns over the possibility of building new nuclear stations to feed the country's growing need for power. They have good reasons to worry: accidents at nuclear power stations can cause horrific damage to the environment and the issue of waste disposal has not been resolved.

But if Joan MacNaughton, the director general of energy policy at the new Department of Productivity, Energy and Industry (DPEI), is to be believed, new nuclear power stations must be pressed into action if Britain is to meet its targets to cut the emission of carbon dioxide. "We now have 12 nuclear stations providing 20% of our electricity carbon-free," says MacNaughton in a new report for incoming ministers at the DPEI. "By 2020 this will fall to three stations and 7% as stations are retired."

Modern nuclear stations, already in operation in South Korea and China, are a world away from the old designs. "The main change we've seen over the last 10-15 years is the shift in emphasis from engineered to passive safety," says Malcolm Grimston, an expert in nuclear policy at Chatham House. "Engineered safety is where you have to have valves and pumps that have to work to deal with the potential dangerous situations."

The alternative passive safety systems are less expensive and less maintenance is required because there are fewer moving parts.

According to Westinghouse, a sub sidiary of British Nuclear Fuels Limited, which designs nuclear power stations, their most advanced designs - such as the AP1000 - are around 100 times safer than existing stations.

The emergency cooling water in an AP1000, for example, is above the reactor core. In the event of an accident, the water just falls on to the core. As it begins the cooling process, it converts to steam, hits the stainless steel barrier at the top, condenses to water and rains back down on the core.

The new nuclear power stations are also cheaper. "The designs are much simpler, there's much less in the way of equipment," says Grimston. He estimates that the cost of a new station is probably half as much as the batch-produced stations of the 1970s. The AP1000, for example, has 36% fewer pumps, 87% less cable, 83% less safety-related pipe and 50% fewer safety-related valves. The Westinghouse design also uses the uranium fuel 60 times more efficiently and produces just 10% of the waste of nuclear power stations today.

Alok Jha Wave, wind, sun and tide, Page 9

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