The collapse of nuclear power

The decision of the UK government of 9 November 1989, withdrawing all nuclear stations from privatization and cancelling the three PWRs which were to have followed on from Sizewell B, was a shattering blow to the nuclear industry. The reversal (at least temporarily) of decades of government support for nuclear power, and the figures which were becoming available of its relatively high-cost (confirmed by the levy on electricity sales to subsidize nuclear and other non-fossil generation), caused the House of Commons Energy Select Committee to conduct the inquiry culminating in its Report The Cost of Nuclear power. (author)