UK to build eight new nuclear reactors in push for new energy strategy

United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson has plans to put nuclear energy at the center of the country’s new energy strategy as they look to remove their dependence on Russia for energy.

Ministers, though, have not yet set any targets for onshore wind as they have vowed to continue using the North Sea for oil and gas.

As senior Conservatives in the country have become divided, the strategy seems likely to frustrate environmentalists, who claim the government’s plans run contradictory to its own net-zero goals and push away alternative measures that many say would provide faster relief from high energy bills.

Johnson is set to launch the plan on Thursday following intense political deal-making as Russia continues to invade Ukraine. That invasion has proven costly in the energy market.

The plan additionally includes raising targets for offshore wind and solar power generation as part of a push for 95 percent of Great Britain’s power to come from low-carbon energy sources by 2030.

Johnson has said the plan will “reduce our dependence on power sources exposed to volatile international prices we cannot control, so we can enjoy greater energy self-sufficiency with cheaper bills. This plan comes in light of rising global energy prices, provoked by surging demand after the pandemic as well as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.”

He continued, “This will be central to weaning Britain off expensive fossil fuels, which are subject to volatile gas prices set by international markets we are unable to control, and boosting our diverse sources of homegrown energy for greater energy security in the long term.”