Country report for United Kingdom [Fast reactors in the United Kingdom]

Over the last two centuries most of the UK's primary energy needs have been met by coal, with production reaching 292 million tons per year in 1913. However, most of the UK's coal lies in deep seams, and the cost of extraction has risen to uneconomic levels as mines have become depleted. At its height the industry employed over 1.2 million people, but today the figure is less than 10,000. During the 1970s oil and gas were discovered in the North Sea, and for the next three decades these made a major contribution to the UK's primary energy needs. Today, gas accounts for 40% of the UK's primary energy consumption, as illustrated. However, within the last decade production has reached a peak and has begun to decline as reserves become depleted. The UK is expected to become a net importer of gas by 2006-07, with UK production forecast to decrease sharply from 2008 onwards. By 2020, around 75% of the UK's total primary energy needs may have to be imported