Boris Johnson expressed his "passionate" support for nuclear power when he addressed the House of Commons for the first time as UK prime minister yesterday. Seven of the country’s eight existing nuclear plants are set to be retired by 2030, while new-build projects have faced financial uncertainty over the last two years.

The UK obtained 19% of its primary energy from low-carbon sources last year, with 39% of this from nuclear power, but this was 7% lower than in 2017 due to outages at Dungeness B and Hunterston B towards the end of 2018, official statistics published today show. Nuclear capacity was broadly the same as in 2017, at 9.3 GW.

UK-based engineering company Atkins, a member of SNC-Lavalin Group, has been awarded a GBP5.0 million (USD6.2 million) contract for the enabling works basic design at the Sizewell C site. It will be the first programme of construction work to start at the proposed twin-EPR nuclear power plant in Suffolk, England.

The UK has opened for consultation its assessment of a new financing model aimed at reducing the cost of new nuclear power plant projects by having consumers pay upfront through their energy bills. A solution is needed urgently because nuclear energy is seen as a vital part of the government's commitment to cutting the country's carbon emissions to net zero by 2050. Seven of the UK's eight existing nuclear plants are set to be retired by 2030.

Rolls-Royce has today welcomed the UK government's decision to advance its small modular reactor programme. The government says it will commit GBP18.0 million (USD22.4 million) of initial funds to support the development of the power plant as part of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, subject to final confirmation in the early autumn.

National Grid, which owns and operates the electricity transmission network in England and Wales, has reduced projections of nuclear capacity in its latest Future Energy Scenarios. However, more nuclear would be needed to achieve the UK's new net-zero climate change target.

The UK government must show it is serious about its legal obligations to tackle and prepare for climate change, the independent Committee on Climate Change said today as it published its Reducing UK emissions - 2019 Progress Report to Parliament.

There are two misleading narratives about nuclear energy: one, that it is the sole answer to tomorrow’s energy and climate challenges; the other, that it could - and perhaps even should - disappear entirely. The truth is of course somewhere between the two - but what's certain is that nuclear, like every sector of the energy industry, must earn its place in the energy mix of the future, writes Rob Whittleston, VP of Insight at the UK’s National Nuclear Laboratory.

The UK has completed the initial actions set out in the 2014 White Paper on implementing geological disposal, the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy has announced. Those actions were: developing land-use planning processes; preparing to work with communities; and national geological screening.

Construction of the concrete basemat has been completed for the nuclear island of the first of two EPR units at the Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant in Somerset, England. The major milestone came as the Confederation of British Industry called for the UK government to support the construction of more new reactors.

The UK has today become the first major economy in the world to pass laws to end its contribution to global warming by 2050, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has announced.

UK-based research and development company Innovative Physics Ltd and China Environmental Protection Company Ltd have signed an agreement on technologies and skills to further improve the safety of nuclear power plants in China and overseas.