Nuclear Electric was a

nuclear power Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced b ...

generation company in the United Kingdom. It was formed in 1990 as part of the

privatisation Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...

process of the UK Electricity Supply Industry. In 1996, it was amalgamated into a new company –

British Energy British Energy was the UK's largest electricity generation company by volume, before being taken over by Électricité de France (EDF) in 2009. British Energy operated eight former UK state-owned nuclear power stations and one coal-fired power ...

, which was eventually purchased by

EDF Energy EDF Energy is a British integrated energy company, wholly owned by the French state-owned EDF (Électricité de France), with operations spanning electricity generation and the sale of natural gas and electricity to homes and businesses through ...

in 2010.

History

Background (Before 1990)

Before 1990, the generation and transmission activities in

England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is En ...

were under the responsibility of

Central Electricity Generating Board The Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB) was responsible for electricity generation, transmission and bulk sales in England and Wales from 1958 until privatisation of the electricity industry in the 1990s. It was established on 1 Janu ...

(CEGB). The present

electricity market In a broad sense, an electricity market is a system that facilitates the exchange of electricity-related goods and services. During more than a century of evolution of the electric power industry, the economics of the electricity markets had u ...

in the UK was built upon the break-up of the CEGB into four separate companies in the 1990s. Its generation (or upstream) activities were transferred to three generating companies – ' PowerGen', '

National Power National power is defined as the sum of all resources available to a nation in the pursuit of national objectives. Assessing the national power of political entities was already a matter of relevance during the classical antiquity, the middle ages ...

', and 'Nuclear Electric' (later '

', eventually '

'); and its transmission (or downstream) activities to – the

National Grid Company National Grid plc is a British multinational electricity and gas utility company headquartered in London, England. Its principal activities are in the United Kingdom, where it owns and operates electricity and natural gas transmission networks ...

Nuclear Electric (1990–1995)

When the CEGB split up was announced, its power stations were decided to be divided between PowerGen and

. The nuclear stations,

Magnox Magnox is a type of nuclear power/production reactor that was designed to run on natural uranium with graphite as the moderator and carbon dioxide gas as the heat exchange coolant. It belongs to the wider class of gas-cooled reactors. The n ...

, AGR and the then under construction

Sizewell B The Sizewell nuclear site consists of two nuclear power stations, one of which is still operational, located near the small fishing village of Sizewell in Suffolk, England. Sizewell A, with two Magnox reactors, is now in the process of being d ...

( PWR), were allocated to National Power in their nuclear division. However, the privatisation process in National Power was delayed as it was concluded that the 'earlier decided nuclear power plant assets in National Power' would not be included in the private company – 'National Power' A new company was formed, Nuclear Electric, which would eventually own and operate the nuclear power assets; and the nuclear power stations were held in public ownership for a number of years. John G. Collier, formerly chair of

UKAEA The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority is a UK government research organisation responsible for the development of fusion energy. It is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy ...

, was its first chairman, and its corporate headquarters were at

Barnwood Barnwood is an eastern suburb of Gloucester, lying about from the centre of the city, and former civil parish, now in the unparished area of Gloucester, in the Gloucester district, in the county of Gloucestershire, England. Barnwood was origi ...

, formerly the site of the Generation Design and Construction Division of the CEGB.

Transition to British Energy, later EDF Energy (1995–2010)

In 1995, the assets of Nuclear Electric and

Scottish Nuclear Scottish Nuclear was formed as a precursor to the privatisation of the electricity supply industry in Scotland on 1 April 1990. A purpose-built headquarters was built in 1992 in the new town of East Kilbride. It consisted of the nuclear assets o ...

were combined as well as split. The combination process merged operations of UK's eight most advanced nuclear plants – seven Advanced Gas Cooled Reactor (AGR) and one Pressurised Water Reactor (PWR) – into a new private company founded in 1996, '

'. The splitting process created a separate company in 1996 called '

Magnox Electric Magnox is a type of nuclear power/production reactor that was designed to run on natural uranium with graphite as the moderator and carbon dioxide gas as the heat exchange coolant. It belongs to the wider class of gas-cooled reactors. The ...

' – which would hold a proportion of the old CEGB's nuclear stations, its older

reactors. The assets of Magnox Electric were later combined with

BNFL British Nuclear Fuels Limited (BNFL) was a nuclear energy and fuels company owned by the UK Government. It was a manufacturer of nuclear fuel (notably MOX), ran reactors, generated and sold electricity, reprocessed and managed spent fuel (main ...

in 1998, and eventually operated and managed by US based EnergySolutions through its June 2007 acquisition of the BNFL subsidiary – Reactor Sites Management Company.BNFL sells Reactor Sites Management Company to EnergySolutions
June 2007 In 2009, British Energy was acquired by

Électricité de France Électricité de France S.A. (literally ''Electricity of France''), commonly known as EDF, is a French multinational electric utility company, largely owned by the French state. Headquartered in Paris, with €71.2 billion in revenues in 2 ...

(EDF); and on 1 July 2010, British Energy was rebranded to

References

{{Electricity generation in South West England Companies based in Gloucester Defunct companies of England Defunct electric power companies of the United Kingdom Electric power companies of England Electric power generation in the United Kingdom Non-renewable resource companies established in 1990 Non-renewable resource companies disestablished in 1996 Nuclear power companies of the United Kingdom Science and technology in Gloucestershire Utilities of the United Kingdom 1990 establishments in England 1996 disestablishments in England

History

Background (Before 1990)

Nuclear Electric (1990–1995)

Transition to British Energy, later EDF Energy (1995–2010)

See also

References