The UK will lead a “renaissance” on nuclear energy, Energy Security Secretary Grant Shapps has promised, as the government offered grants of up to £157 million to several projects across the UK.
Mr. Shapps announced on Tuesday the launch of Great British Nuclear (GBN), a new arm’s-length government body tasked to “drive rapid expansion of nuclear power at an unprecedented scale and pace.”
Speaking in central London, he bemoaned decades of decline in the nuclear industry and criticised previous government inaction.
Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero Grant Shapps arrives for a Cabinet meeting at 10 Downing Street, London, on March 15, 2023. (Jordan Pettitt/PA Media)
He reflected on public opposition to nuclear development in the 1970s and 1980s, noting, “That mood even percolated into government itself and by the early 1990s” and the British nuclear industry was “firmly in decline” as a result….