UK: Why 36 is the magic number for nuclear

Greener, more radioactive energy will not come cheap: this single number, at the heart of government policy, is the reason why

Your electricity bill will soar as the power supply becomes greener and more radioactive, in line with government policy. The proof lies in a single number buried in the White Paper on Nuclear Power, published yesterday.

The number is 36 and it will soon represent the meaning of life for the forseeable future. It is not the price per kilowatt hour of electricity, nor is it the billions to be spent on nuclear waste management or even the cost of printing the 192-page White Paper. It is the cost of a tonne of carbon traded on Europe


The White Paper concludes that nuclear power is commercially viable, that power companies will rush to build nukes without need of subsidy. In other words, it believes that the cost of producing a megawatt of nuclear electricity will be competitive with fossil-fuel alternatives, such as coal and natural gas.

Unfortunately, new-build nuclear power just treads water. In order to make uranium more sexy than fossils, gas and coal power generators must pay a penalty for emitting greenhouse gases and the price of permits to emit CO2 must truly bite. The cost on the ETS of a permit for a tonne of CO2 is currently