Power cuts feared in UK nuclear plants crisis - Home News, UK - The Independent

The meltdown of Britain's nuclear capacity is largely responsible for an alarming tightening of electricity supplies that is forecast to start at the beginning of November, as demand rises sharply for the winter, and to continue until at least the end of the month.

An independent nuclear analyst, John Large, said last night: "It's all in a pretty sad state. The reactors are starting to break up; they are becoming knackered. There comes a point when you simply have to turn the things off.

"We have been lucky for two years with mild winters, but if we have a cold snap then I can see the lights blinking off."

The National Grid insists there should be enough power even if there is a harsh winter, though it admits to "a lot of uncertainty" in its projections. But independent analysts warn of a real danger of shortages, saying the nuclear crisis is largely to blame.

Ed Mayo, the chief executive of Consumer Focus – the new official consumer body, which started work last week – said that supplies would be "tighter over the coming period than they have ever been".

David Hunter, an analyst with the independent energy consultants McKinnon & Clarke, which advises companies on how to minimise their energy costs, added: "Not very much has to go wrong to turn the situation towards brownouts and blackouts."

He pointed out that Britain has a maximum of 70-75 gigawatts (gW) of electricity available from its own sources. Last week, he added, 18gW of that was out of action – partly because of the nuclear crisis (which he called "very serious"), partly because of lesser problems with coal- and oil-fired plants, and partly through routine maintenance, bringing the total down to 52-57gW. Yet in a cold snap demand could rise to 60-62gW.