The potential for sustainable energy solutions and technical installations in new construction on a licensed nuclear site in the UK

The UK Government is driving sustainable renewables to meeting 80% by 2050. The nuclear industry in the UK is on the decline as the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) commence a 150 year programme in decommissioning 19 UK sites, while the first shoots of a new nuclear generation is commencing with delivery by 2020. With this new generation comes a new infrastructure of buildings which will require to be designed as low energy, zero carbon, sustainable and have lifetime periods of 80 to 100 years. Opportunities for the incorporation of sustainable energy technologies will develop, but nuclear safety, operational costs and processes have meant that nuclear licensed sites have ignored technologies such as solar, heat pumps, wind, and other systems. The paper will consider whether this is due to their non-acceptance, higher capital costs, negative thinking or avoiding environmental pressure within a protective non-mainstream economic culture. This paper will look at the opportunities for sustainable energy technologies at one of these UK nuclear sites. The site chosen is at Sellafield in Cumbria in the north-west of the United Kingdom. It will identify how integration in new nuclear construction could be carried out within building design without affecting current safety and operational methods.