LONDON (CU)_Earlier this month, US President Joe Biden announced a ban on Russian oil imports, in retaliation for Moscow’s onslaught in Ukraine. However, the United Kingdom was unable to immediately join this effort to strike hard at Russia’s economy, but said it will phase out oil and oil products from the transcontinental nation by the end of the year. Accordingly, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is looking to reduce the country’s dependence on Russian oil and gas imports and is looking to plot “big bets” on nuclear power to this end.
With this objective in mind, the British leader is expected to meet nuclear industry bosses after announcing plans for a major expansion in the sector during his speech at the Conservatives’ spring conference over the weekend. “We must take the bold steps necessary to end our dependence on Putin’s oil and gas. And that’s what we are doing. In the immortal phrase, it is time to take back control of our energy supplies,” he said. “After years of short-termism and hand to mouth solutions, we are setting out a British energy security strategy.”
The Prime Minister went on to note that the UK will make better use of its own naturally occurring hydrocarbons, instead of importing them and “put the money in Putin’s bank account”. “We’re going to make some bets on nuclear power and big bets on nuclear power, not just the big projects, but also the small modular reactors,” he added. “And we’re going to take that bull-at-a-gate spirit of the booster rollout and use it to build more offshore wind.”
Accordingly, the meeting at Downing Street is the latest in the government’s efforts to engage with industry bosses ahead of the publication of the British Energy Security Strategy. According to Number 10, during the summit, the parties will discuss how they can work together “to remove barriers and progress future nuclear projects in the UK more quickly and cheaply”.
