Nuclear power supporting net zero by 2050?

Nuclear power needs to operate at full capacity to keep costs at reasonable levels. At the moment, reactors are used for baseload to supply essentially constant power, but as the amount of wind and solar power rises nuclear power has to become flexible to be part of the range of technologies needed to ensure there are no power cuts. By using nuclear cogeneration to make hydrogen and synthetic fuels there is an opportunity to focus nuclear heat and electricity on these and other industrial applications, as part of the drive to reach net zero. Nuclear power can then be directed to grid support when needed, at low cost. This is much cheaper than and has lower carbon emissions than continuing the use of natural gas, even with carbon capture and storage.

This presentation looks at the range of nuclear power options – large reactors, small reactors, established reactor systems and advanced reactor systems. Nuclear cogeneration technologies will then be described. The role of hydrogen, thermal storage and heat networks will be explored. The presentation addresses the difficult problem of integrating renewables, nuclear power, energy storage, and other technologies to maximise the use of renewables. 

About the Speaker:

Professor Juan Matthews started his career at Harwell, developing computer models of nuclear fuel and radiation damage in structural materials, later adding responsibility for managing the Harwell contribution to the UK’s Fast Reactor and General Nuclear safety Programmes. He went on the support the CEO of UKAEA during the preparations for the privatisation of the commercial part, AEA Technology plc. He became head of the materials and chemistry for the nuclear part of the new organisation and then Regional Director for Asia Pacific, based in Japan but setting up legal presences in 7 countries in the region. As part of this he was involved in the technology transfer of the Li-ion battery technology to Japan and South Korea, where key patents relating to the cathode materials were owned by AEA Technology.

He left AEA Technology in 1999 and then worked mainly for the DTI (in Russia and Ukraine) till it closed in 2007 and then UK Trade and Investment, from 2010 looking for investment for new nuclear build. At the same time, he was associated with University College London and the London Centre for Nanotechnology, working on nuclear fusion and other nuclear materials problems. Since 2014 he has been teaching advanced reactor technology at post graduate level for the University of Manchester and participating in the Policy Engagement Group of the UoM Dalton Nuclear Institute.