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Boris Johnson’s Bold Nuclear Bet Has Echoes of Thatcher Failure

  • Boris Johnson seeks to triple nuclear power capacity by 2050
  • Britain’s Thatcher fell short on atomic pledge in the 1980s
EDF’s planned Sizewell C nuclear facility in the U.K.

EDF’s planned Sizewell C nuclear facility in the U.K.

Source: Electricite de France SA

In the 1980s, then U.K. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher proposed constructing a nuclear power station every year for a decade. In the end, only the Sizewell B plant was built.

Now, energy experts from analysts to academics fear that Prime Minister Boris Johnson will also be unable to fulfill a pledge to triple the country’s atomic power capacity by 2050. Nuclear is taking a key role in an energy security strategy unveiled by the government on Thursday that’s designed to boost local supplies to reduce reliance on Russian energy.