Swinney’s evidence that Labour’s new nuclear start-up costs are more than twice as expensive as renewables, confirmed

From a Freedom of Information response published yesterday:

Information requested

At FMQs on At FMQs on 20th June 2024, John Swinney said this:

Evidence shows that new nuclear is more expensive than renewable alternatives. Bearing this in mind, the information I am seeking is the evidence to which John Swinney was referring at FMQs on 20th June 2024.  

Response

The below figures are central cost estimates for projects commissioning in 2025 (in real 2021 prices), and can be retrieved from the following Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) publication: Electricity generation costs 2023 – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

New nuclear: £109/MWh[1]
Offshore Wind: £44/MWh
Onshore Wind: £38/MWh
Large-scale Solar: £41/MWh

So, offshore wind has less than half the capital cost and onshore has just over a third.

That’s commissioning, what about de-commissioning? £10 billion per reactor!

Sources:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/foi-202400420100/

UK Has £10 Billion Per Nuclear Reactor Decommissioning Bottomless Pit

8 thoughts on “Swinney’s evidence that Labour’s new nuclear start-up costs are more than twice as expensive as renewables, confirmed”

  1. This post has been removed in seconds by FB. I’m getting more than just a little fed up with them and their algorithms. It was OK on Twitter (will never get used to X) but not FB.

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  3. For me there is also the whole issue of how long the waste will remain radioactive and the implications for ongoing costs associated with its storage. I’m not certain but it looks like the decommissioning costs don’t go beyond 100 years.

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  4. The issue here isn’t about the requirement for energy security. This is all about England imposing its reliance on to Scotland so we can share the fallout (pun intended). They NEED us to have Nuclear because THEY need Nuclear.

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  5. Westminster spending £13Billion a year on decommissioning a year. £130Billion over ten years. Increasing all the time.

    Octopus boss says Scotland could have free energy. No charge. Scotland surplus in fuel, and nearer the source pays more. The companies wanted Scotland to pay less, for parity. Westminster would not agree.

    It does not matter how many Oil licences are granted. Oil & Gas will die out because renewables are much cheaper.

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