A new deal for nuclear?

The 1989 privatisation of the electricity supply industry (ESI) proved hugely embarrassing for the UK´s nuclear sector. With performance and costs scrutinised as never before, the nuclear stations were ultimately revealed as unsaleable-forcing a reluctant, and palpably irritated Government to make last-minute provisions for retaining all the UK´s nuclear capacity within the public sector. The author describes how, faced with the prospect of a slow decline into insignificance, the UK nuclear industry is now looking to the Government for a new lease of life