Critical Analysis: Financing Nuclear Power Plants in the 2020s

This report provides a comprehensive critical analysis of financing nuclear power plants (NPPs) in the 2020s and beyond. It begins with an introduction to nuclear energy and its role as an affordable and sustainable energy source, highlighting the UK's commitment to nuclear power. The main body delves into various sources of finance for NPPs, including government financing, corporate financing, and vendor financing, along with their advantages and disadvantages. It also examines wider economic factors affecting NPPs, such as political, social, technological, environmental, and legal factors, using a PESTLE analysis to illustrate their impact. Furthermore, the report addresses key issues arising in the development of NPPs, including challenges related to reactor systems, fuel technology, waste disposal, worker safety, secrecy, and land availability. Finally, it discusses risk management processes and procedures essential for the successful implementation of nuclear power projects, concluding with a summary of the key findings and implications for the future of nuclear energy financing.

UTILISING A VARIETY OF
PUBLISHED AND REPUTABLE
SOURCES COMPLETE A
CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE
FINANCING OF NUCLEAR
POWER PLANTS IN THE 2020S
AND BEYOND

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Sources of finance for nuclear power plant.................................................................................1
Wider economic factors affecting NPP........................................................................................3
Issue arsing in development of NPP............................................................................................4
Risk management process and procedures .................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Nuclear energy is also known as atomic energy which is released when there is a
chemical reaction for obtaining nuclear fusion, nuclear decay and nuclear fission. This nuclear
energy is generated in nuclear plants. According to UK government Nuclear energy is the most
affordable source of energy available. This project will talk about how the previous sources of
energy are polluting the environment and the access use of these energies will lead to scarcity of
these resources all over the world. In this project the commitment level of UK will be shown for
producing nuclear power which is a reliable and clear source of energy and solution to the
existing problems. The project will help in analysation of the sources of finance for nuclear
power plants in the country. Other wider economic factors will also be discussed in the project
about nuclear power. This project will also talk about the issues which arise regarding this
project of the company in the coming 10 years. With the help of this project the risk management
and its procedures will be stated for nuclear power plants.
MAIN BODY
Sources of finance for nuclear power plant
UK just like many other countries has been considering nuclear power as very affordable
and valuable source of energy. Nuclear power is the future of generation of power which is a
very good alternative to the existing sources of power like petrol and thermal power plants which
uses fuels like coal. There are various downsides of these power sources as these power sources
are responsible for emission of gases which pollutes the environment of not just the country but
the whole world. These gases are the main causes of global warming. Another drawback of these
power sources are that they are limited resources present in the depth of earth. Due to the high
intensity of their usage many scientists believe that by 2030 humans will have exhausted all
these resources. These are the reasons for why other modes of generation of energy are preferred
by many countries in the world. Nuclear power is one of the most efficient form of energy that is
available in the world out there (Roh and Kim, 2017). Scientists have worked continuously for
many years for development of technology with the help of which energy can be generated by
the help of nuclear reaction. Nuclear energy might be very useful and safe source of energy but it
requires high cost capital and complex nuclear plants with advanced technologies. The major
challenge which most of the countries including UK faces are the sources of the finance which is
required for building these complex plants. This is why in many countries the electricity market
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are under private sector for saving government some investments. The nuclear power plants are
very different from a regular building or industry. It has some unique characteristics and feature
which make the investments in these facilities even more complex. Some of these feature of
nuclear power plant are, First of all the designs of the nuclear power plant are created by highly
qualified specialist which takes years for completing the design and also have there part in cost
in the facility. These facilities are so big and complex that it takes high construction costs. The
disposal of the waste produced by these plants is also very expensive. Even though the cost of
production of NPP is high the operation costs of these plants are relatively very low (Mauger,
2018).
Some sources of investment in NPP which are available in UK are,
Government financing :
This has to be said as the traditional approach of sources for NPP. Governments most of
them time likes to get involved in owning energy producing facilities. In the market of UK the
government like to regulate these finances both directly and indirectly. Example of direct
funding by government would be when the government directly invests in these project and the
entire amount is spent from the budget of the government. Indirect way the government does this
is that it from as deal with another country for collaboration and usage of the energy and both the
countries invest equally in the project which saves some resources of the country (Niczyporuk,
and Urpelainen, 2021).
Corporate financing :
This source of NPP investment are the investments made by the public or private
companies which have their debt and equity. In this type of investment the company takes over
all the risks regarding the project. The advantages of these sources is that they work faster than
the government as the governments main objective is to produce energy for their customers
whereas these companies are doing this for earning profit. In some countries cooperate financing
of NPP is mostly seen as there public and private sectors have more financial power than the
government.
Vendor Financing :
This source covers many types of financing options as the like financing with the help of
equity or by taking loans both the methods are quite effective. The vendors which take the
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responsibility of this project generally take short term loans. These vendors depend heavily on
the banks for their financing or the equity market (Solano and et.al., 2018).
Wider economic factors affecting NPP
From the beginning of the development of nuclear power there been many economic
factors that has effected its development. One of the reason for the development of this energy
source was the constantly decreasing sources of energy which were petrol, coal and other
thermal sources of energy. The scarcity of these sources of energy was affecting the economy of
many countries. This lead to increase in research and development for the search of more reliable
source of energy. The most effective source of energy which was found was the nuclear energy
which had the power and capability to fulfil the energy requirement of many countries. The rise
of nuclear energy also gave rise to the factors which started influencing this sources of energy.
Nuclear energy is formed in nuclear power plant (NPP) which are affected by these economic
factors (Roth and Jaramillo, 2017). These wide factors can be explained by the help of the
PESTLE analysis without the Economical factor.
Political factors :
Apart from the usual economic factors of cost, and resources the nuclear power plant are
also affected from other wider economic factors. One of these factors that affected the NPP is the
political factor. The political factors include the factors which arises due to the change in politics
of the country. In a country the politics is basically opinions of different parties. Different
political parties might have different opinions of the NPP. Some might think that it is useful for
production of energy whereas other might think it can affect the people and biodiversity with its
radiation. The strategy of radio active waste disposal is also a thing that is affected by the politics
of the country, if the country is not managing the waste properly the country may be affected
negatively by political authorities. The International Atomic Energy Agency and European
Commission are two bodies which are all responsible for activities of the country for its NPP
(Vuong and et.al., 2017).
Social Factors :
Social factors are the influence of society on the NPP in UK. The social factors are taken
under consideration in the operations of NPP. UK has to take the decision based on the society
and the benefits for the society. In case the social factors are ignored and nuclear facilities are
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situated near the civilization it can have future impact due to any accidents (Andrei and
Prisecaru, 2017).
Technological Factors :
Technological factors influences the way of operation in the NPP. The technology
decides the amount of energy that is produced. Technological factors also improves the
sustainability of the project of NPP. With the help of the technological factors UK can
successfully improve its performance in the NPP energy production. Technological factors help
in the proper waste management of the radioactive waste. With the proper use of Technology the
country can also one day use the nuclear power source as its major source of energy (Simon,
Korošec and Bilban, 2017).
Environmental Factors :
The environment is only affected by NPP when its fails to manage its radioactive waste.
However, nuclear energy will be very useful for saving the world from global warming, Due to
this the economic factors only influences the NPP when they harm the environment with radio
active wastes.
Legal Factors :
There are various rules and regulations which are specific to the nuclear field. In UK the
legal factors basically suggest the NPP to situate itself away from civilization and also make its
waste management effective. The waste management is the biggest issue with NPP. Thus, all the
factors collectively want NPP to manage the waste. Legal factors are also influenced by the
environmental agreements.
Issue arsing in development of NPP
The issue which UK has faced in the last 10 years for the development of nuclear power
plant are,
Reactor System :
Most of the people belief that this technology is not yet complete. There are a total of 400
reactors in total operating in the world. Most of these systems are second generation systems.
The life cycle of these reactors are considerably very short and the development of new
generation of these reactors may take many years. Along with this there are many challenges
which the country has to face regarding the reactor's performance and understanding its material.
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It can be safely said that the technology behind the reactor is still in development and thus the
NPP's have to face challenges in their operation (Xu and et.al., 2018).
Developments in fuel technology :
In this technology of nuclear power plants there has not been any new introduction of any
technique or tools. This process still runs on the old process of synchrotron radiation which is
used for the reaction of zircalay cladding with hydrogen. This is how the reactors works, because
there hasn't been any changes the same issues and challenges which were faced by the NPP's still
the same issues are faced by them. After the introduction of any new technology scientists of UK
believe that this process can become safer for the human as nuclear power plants creates threat to
the lives as they generate radiations (Rezaei and et.al., 2017).
Waste disposal :
UK government have this as the major issue as the all the NPP's generate waste which is
radio active and cannot be disposed naturally. It requires an extreme procedure. Which includes
selection of the land which should not be near any human living. This disposal is done under
ground so the country has to make sure that this disposal does not affect the biodiversity of the
place otherwise the country can be accused of harming the biodiversity.
Safety of the workers :
The workers which work in these NPP have are at the risk of their live as any leakage or
any fault in the nuclear power plant can result in explosions or other radiations which can affect
the human very badly. This is why the country has to provide proper security and insurance to
those which work in the NPP.
Secrecy :
Nuclear power generation is a very sacred process because these same materials and
process is used for the manufacturing of nuclear weapons. Thus, it becomes very important for
the country to keep there nuclear plants safe and out of the reach of the enemies.
Availability of land :
One of the biggest issue faced by UK government would be the availability of land where
these NPP can be situated. These plants require large area and also need to be away from both
civilization and natural bio diversity. These locations should also be so secret that it can be kept
away form the enemies.
Materials :
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The material which are used for the production of this energy are very difficult to finding
and are not at all recyclable. This puts the country to face huge challenge on gathering of the raw
material. One solution of this is if the country is success full in development of technology which
can reuse the raw materials.
Risk management process and procedures
Risk management in the organization seems to be important while through the business can run
easily along with this the risk also helps the business for identifying the various practices. This
might be also including the evaluation, tracking and mitigating the risk for which this could help
in maintaining the business environment. Enterprise risk management also keep dealing in
domain for which the government can easily have the development and also help the other
people for which they can work in making the business growth (Thomas,2020). This seems to be
important because it helps for knowing about the various strategies for which the organization
environment can be improved. Here is the process for risk management such as:
Identify risk: -
The first step is to identify the risk for which the organization must be required to identify
their risk. Hence, there many types of risk such as legal environment, regulatory and market risk
etc. The highly advantage of the approaches for those risk which can be towards the stakeholder
in the companies and also make sure about the systems that might be access. If the organization
have the risk management for which that could be informed by the employee to their systems as
well. While for having the risk management proper organization must be required to have the
proper email and anyone who wants to see the risk that they can easily identifies by the
information from the risk management system.
Analyse the risk: -
The scope of risk can be easily determined while by using the risk management system in
the organization. It must be also important for making sure about the difference between the risk
and the various other factor in the organization (Cole and Aitken, 2020). This means that system
have to be ready for their risk while by having the risk management system in the organization.
In analysing the risk that could only help the business for knowing about the things which are
required for them in having the better results for their organization development.
Evaluate risk:-
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The business has the serval risk as it can be low, high or medium level. It must be also
important for having the risk because this allows the company for gaining the benefits in
exposure the risk managements. The business can easily handle the risk while by mitigating and
making the rank to the risk for which the first priority risk can be easily complete and make the
employee sure about for having the proper information.
Treat the risk: -
As this can be done by using the experts and field work for which they can belongs to the
risk easily while for having the better risk process. Upper management keep their eyes on the top
of risk for which they can suggested the solution along with this make the proper communication
with each other for keeping the updates while by using the systems (Narayanan and et.al., 2020).
In addition, this could be directly making the contact from the risk management systems.
Monitor and review the risk: -
The manager in the organization can easily make sure about to keeps the eyes on the risk
factors. This could be also monitored by using the digital environment and systems for which the
risk can be easily handle. If any risk factors taken place that could keep the monitored and also
makes sure the results for which they can easily work and make their business to be more well-
developed. Computers are must be closely for identifying the risk and this could allow the
business for running the organization with having the proper segments.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it had been concluded that sources of finance keep the
organization to manage their work and also help their business for running smoothly for which
they can easily manage their working balance. This might be also helpful for which they can
make their business to be well-developed in the various things along with this also make their
market position. Wider economic factor can be easily including that play important role having
the proper economic factor in the countries along with this could also make sure about those
things which are important for having business development in the countries. Project issues must
be significance from which the risk can be easily identified and also have their development for
having the high range of satisfaction. Risk management systems must be required in the
organization for which the busines can easily handle over their high situation while by ranking
them and also making surety about those risk which have been controlled.
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REFERENCES
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coupling with different energy sources including fossils and nuclear power
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