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The problem with this (regardless of your position on Nuclear energy) is that the current UK government have a woeful record of long term commitments. They're

The problem with this (regardless of your position on Nuclear energy) is that the current UK government have a woeful record of long term commitments. They're fond of flashy announcements, but the hard long term work to bring them to fruition is another matter.

kmlx 5y ago
i think it depends at what stage the projects are at. for example the UK's High Speed railway has seen so much money (and so much digging), that I think it's impossible for the next government to simply cancel such a big project. but what you're writing about can be seen across the western world. the French government recently announced a similar nuclear strategy. but their election is happening in a few days :) the German government did a similar announcement (i forget the topic, wasn't nuclear of course), but they just pushed the date till after their next election :) i think this is just an inherent issue with democracy. the more polarised the electorate/political parties or the more contentious the idea/project, the more unstable these kinds of commitments. less polarised electorate/parties/ideas = more chance of success. see Japan, Singapore, etc ironically some non-democracies have been faring quite well. see UAE/Middle East. it does help some of these are flush with cash. easier when you've got unlimited cash and no elections to worry about (quirky fact: having no elections also means saving money).
- raesene9 5y ago
  I know all gov's to this to an extent, but I feel the current UK gov excels at it, including in high speed rail. A couple of examples :- - Scotland - NI bridge. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-59368707 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-59368707 - HS2 Eastern leg scrapped - https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/nov/18/hs2-rail-leg-to-leeds-scrapped-grant-shapps-confirms https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/nov/18/hs2-rail-leg...
  - tonyedgecombe 5y ago
    That NI bridge concept was always a fantasy. With regards to HS2 I'm surprised the whole thing didn't get canned. I guess the sunk cost fallacy worked in its favour. It is a general problem though, every time I hear about some long term plan I want to know what they are doing this year and next.
- blitzar 5y ago
  > i think this is just an inherent issue with democracy I think it is actually an issue of government - Belgium for example seems to go long multi year periods of time without the sky falling in. The reality is that the lying dishonest corrupt party that isnt MY party is actually the exact same as MY party. Neither party actually do anything different and the whole political process is just theatre.
ChrisRR 5y ago
And giving the contract to some friend of Eton who can't bring the project to fruition
orra 5y ago
> They're fond of flashy announcements, but the hard long term work to bring them to fruition is another matter. Quite the understatement. At the very start of 2008, the UK Government announced a whole new generation of nuclear plants[1]. The first was intended to start generating power by 2017 (9 and a bit years). In the end, however, only one plant is being built, Hinkley Point C. It is currently only expected to start producing power by the end[2] of 2026 (nearly 19 years). Needless to say, fission is not a solution to the current energy crisis. [1] http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7179579.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7179579.stm [2] https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-somerset-58724732 https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-somerset-58724732
- tonyedgecombe 5y ago
  Well we did switch to a political party that was somewhat sceptical when it came to the environment in 2010. I suspect that now we have issues with energy costs, dealing with dodgy political regimes and climate change even the Conservatives will accept the need to change.
- actuator 5y ago
  Wasn't the Labour in power in 2008? Maybe it fell off the priority for conservatives.
  - orra 5y ago
    It’s not like the Tories cancelled the policy, unlike say Heathrow expansion (albeit only temporarily). That said the coalition government had a “no [taxpayer] subsidy” policy, which possibly was in contrast to the Labour policy. Nonetheless, this problem was “solved” by having electricity consumers fund an expensive CDF, as opposed to the government investing capital.

kmlx 5y ago

i think it depends at what stage the projects are at. for example the UK's High Speed railway has seen so much money (and so much digging), that I think it's impossible for the next government to simply cancel such a big project. but what you're writing about can be seen across the western world. the French government recently announced a similar nuclear strategy. but their election is happening in a few days :) the German government did a similar announcement (i forget the topic, wasn't nuclear of course), but they just pushed the date till after their next election :) i think this is just an inherent issue with democracy. the more polarised the electorate/political parties or the more contentious the idea/project, the more unstable these kinds of commitments. less polarised electorate/parties/ideas = more chance of success. see Japan, Singapore, etc ironically some non-democracies have been faring quite well. see UAE/Middle East. it does help some of these are flush with cash. easier when you've got unlimited cash and no elections to worry about (quirky fact: having no elections also means saving money).

raesene9 5y ago
I know all gov's to this to an extent, but I feel the current UK gov excels at it, including in high speed rail. A couple of examples :- - Scotland - NI bridge. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-59368707 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-59368707 - HS2 Eastern leg scrapped - https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/nov/18/hs2-rail-leg-to-leeds-scrapped-grant-shapps-confirms https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/nov/18/hs2-rail-leg...
- tonyedgecombe 5y ago
  That NI bridge concept was always a fantasy. With regards to HS2 I'm surprised the whole thing didn't get canned. I guess the sunk cost fallacy worked in its favour. It is a general problem though, every time I hear about some long term plan I want to know what they are doing this year and next.
blitzar 5y ago
> i think this is just an inherent issue with democracy I think it is actually an issue of government - Belgium for example seems to go long multi year periods of time without the sky falling in. The reality is that the lying dishonest corrupt party that isnt MY party is actually the exact same as MY party. Neither party actually do anything different and the whole political process is just theatre.

ChrisRR 5y ago

And giving the contract to some friend of Eton who can't bring the project to fruition

orra 5y ago

> They're fond of flashy announcements, but the hard long term work to bring them to fruition is another matter. Quite the understatement. At the very start of 2008, the UK Government announced a whole new generation of nuclear plants[1]. The first was intended to start generating power by 2017 (9 and a bit years). In the end, however, only one plant is being built, Hinkley Point C. It is currently only expected to start producing power by the end[2] of 2026 (nearly 19 years). Needless to say, fission is not a solution to the current energy crisis. [1] http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7179579.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7179579.stm [2] https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-somerset-58724732 https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-somerset-58724732

tonyedgecombe 5y ago
Well we did switch to a political party that was somewhat sceptical when it came to the environment in 2010. I suspect that now we have issues with energy costs, dealing with dodgy political regimes and climate change even the Conservatives will accept the need to change.
actuator 5y ago
Wasn't the Labour in power in 2008? Maybe it fell off the priority for conservatives.
- orra 5y ago
  It’s not like the Tories cancelled the policy, unlike say Heathrow expansion (albeit only temporarily). That said the coalition government had a “no [taxpayer] subsidy” policy, which possibly was in contrast to the Labour policy. Nonetheless, this problem was “solved” by having electricity consumers fund an expensive CDF, as opposed to the government investing capital.