BE operates eight nuclear power stations in the UK, including seven stations using advanced, gas-cooled reactors (AGR) and one (Sizewell B) using a pressurized-water reactor (PWR). All of the AGR reactors will reach the end of their designed lifetime by 2023. British Nuclear Fuels Limited (BNFL), owned by the UK government, operates four nuclear plants containing first generation, magnesium-oxide (Magnox) reactors. The UK originally built 11 of these plants in the 1950s, and BNFL will close the remaining four by 2010. BNFL plans to convert one closed plant, Chapelcross, into a co-firing plant burning a combination of coal and locally grown willow trees.
The UK government has introduced regulations that require electricity distributors to source a portion of their electricity supply from renewables (including hydroelectricity), currently 3 percent but set to rise to 10 percent by 2010. Investments in wind power have increased substantially, aiming to take advantage of the natural geographic advantage that the UK has in this regard. Another area of increased interest has been wave power. In 2004, the Pelamis project off the coast of Orkney delivered the first ever supply of electricity from wave energy to the UK national grid. Finally, hydroelectricity has regained attention, especially in Scotland, including the potential construction of the 100-MW Glendoe project.
The UK emitted 564.6 million metric tons (Mmt) of energy-related carbon dioxide in 2003. The country is one of only four Western European countries to achieve a drop in carbon dioxide emissions since 1990. While carbon dioxide emissions have declined, total energy consumption has increased over the same period by 11.2 percent, reaching 9.8 quadrillion British thermal units (Btu) in 2003. The UK has ratified the Kyoto Protocol; however, the EU has decided to meet its requirements under the Protocol as a whole, rather than as individual signatories, with each member state given a different emissions target by the EU Commission. Under the EU plan, the UK must reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by 12.5 percent below the 1990 level during the 2008-2012 commitment periods; the country was 8 percent above this target during 2003.
The UK has seen dramatic improvements in air quality in recent decades, especially reductions in sulfur dioxide emissions: The principle driving force behind these reductions has been the transition away from coal-fired power plants, the drastic reduction in the use of coal for residential heating, and general economic shift from an industry-focused to service-based economy. In 2001, the UK government introduced the Climate Change Levy, a surcharge on energy produced from carbon dioxide-emitting sources charged to commercial and industrial energy users. By exempting renewable energy sources and co-generation facilities, the Levy has encouraged large energy consumers to increase conservation measures.