Report published this week advises that the percentage of the UK’s energy generated from nuclear plants could double after 2030.

The report, commissioned by the government, claims that the most efficient solution to lowering the UK’s depency on energy from sources such as natural gas and fossil fuels is by increasing the UK’s nuclear output to a proposed target of 35-40% beyond 2030.

This is a significant increase, with last years percentage of energy generated from nuclear sources at 15%, and with all of the UK’s existing nuclear plants running at full capacity only able to achieve less than a quarter.

With north sea oil and gas in decline, the nuclear option is one that boasts a tested, low carbon solution to reducing emissions, but also to increasing the UK’s energy security by avoiding falling into a trap of relying too heavily on imported natural gas and fossil fuels from sources such as Russia and the Middle East, vulnerable to being cut off during disputes, or stung by increasing prices as energy supplies diminish.

Britain’s existing nuclear power plants are due to close before 2030, apart from one, and although some of Europe’s biggest energy companies plan to build replacement plants, the first of this new generation of nuclear power is not expected to be completed until 2017.