United Kingdom - country brief

The United Kingdom has always been an important center of trade and industry in Europe, has considerable reserves of fossil energy sources, especially North Sea oil and natural gas, and is now also a major exporter of energy in the European Union. The power industry in the United Kingdom has been deregulated step by step since the early nineties, and markets have been liberalized. This process has meanwhile been completed. 35 nuclear generating units were in operation in the United Kingdom in 2000; their installed capacity was 14,200 gross MWe and 13,048 net MWe. Their share in the country's generating capacity was approximately 16%, and the approximately 83.6 billion kWh generated in 2000 mean that some 26% of the electricity in the United Kingdom comes from nuclear sources. The nuclear power plants in operation are 34 gas-cooled graphite-moderated reactors (approx. 13,000 MW) of the Magnox and AGR types, respectively, and one pressurized water reactor (1200 MW). No new nuclear power plant constructions are being planned at the present time, but in view of the oil and natural gas reserves being exhausted in a few years' time, and also in connection with the obligations assumed in climate protection, public and political discussions about new plants to be erected are going on. (orig.)