Government plans to build a network of “mini” nuclear power stations across the country have failed to adequately assess major security threats to the public, top policing experts have warned.
Sir Keir Starmer has pledged to “rip up the rules” governing the nuclear industry to fast-track so-called Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) to generate affordable low-carbon electricity, boosting the economy and powering energy-intensive technology such as AI data centres.
However, security analysts caution that arrangements for guarding SMRs from terrorists, enemy states and criminal groups need radical rethinking to protect the public.
They told The i Paper that thousands more armed officers could be required to defend these facilities – which may be located nearer towns and cities – plus the vehicles carrying their radioactive fuel.
They believe these policing operations would be so much larger, more complex and more costly than existing arrangements that a new force may be required – yet fear ministers are overlooking or underestimating the challenges ahead.
The UK’s five existing nuclear power stations are guarded by specialist officers from the Civil Nuclear Constabulary (Photo: CNC)The Government hopes the first SMRs will open in less than 10 years, probably at some of the country’s eight existing nuclear sites, but the network may later expand to other locations in England and Wales.
Professor Fraser Sampson, a national security expert at Sheffield Hallam University, said these will necessitate “a very different policing and security model,” especially if they are located “much nearer or even within areas of significant population, and you have many more of them.”
Sampson, a former solicitor and police officer who recently served as the UK’s biometrics and surveillance camera commissioner, worries the Government is not focusing enough on security.
Anticipating a “proliferation of smaller sites,” he said: “The thing that I think is missing, and others agree, is: where is the plan [to guard them]?”
Lord Toby Harris, chair of the National Preparedness Committee, argued this should be a priority because reactors “will be a target for those of hostile intent.”
“If the deployment of SMRs leads to a lot of additional sites, there are big implications as to how those are policed and protected,” said the Labour peer.
Armed officers from the Civil Nuclear Constabulary are used to patrolling remote areas like this one, where the force says they can ‘engage with community members’ (Photo: CNC)The potential dangers to the public
The UK currently has five large nuclear power stations, all in relatively remote locations, which are ageing and need replacing. These are patrolled by specialist officers from the Civil Nuclear Constabulary (CNC), aided by local police in any emergencies.
Although SMRs will be smaller, the lethal dangers from any radiological leaks would remain just as severe – and could be more likely to harm the public if they are near major conurbations.
Sampson is concerned that new sites may have less open space surrounding them, which could hinder armed officers watching out for potential attacks and responding to incidents.
Experts say the easiest places to build SMRs would be at the sites of 12 decommissioned nuclear plants, and the Government wants to make it easier to build them in the countryside.
A spokesperson for the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero said: “All new nuclear projects, including small modular reactors, are prevented from being built in densely populated areas.”
However, regulations say SMRs could be allowed in “semi-urban” locations, and the Government has stated in a consultation that it is “open to revising” this restriction. The Prime Minister says his plan “means nuclear sites could be built anywhere across England and Wales”.
The nuclear industry argues it could beneficial for SMRs to be “closer to populated areas and industrial clusters.” It’s believed this lobbying may intensify as the technology develops.
Four privately financed SMRs are already planned for a Teeside industrial park, about three miles outside Middlesborough. The US nuclear firm Westinghouse expects these to be operating by the early 2030s.
Four private SMRs like this one are being planned for a Teeside site outside Middlesbrough, marked on this satellite photo by a grey circle (Images: Google Maps / Westinghouse)The increased risks posed by uranium being transported to a greater number of different sites around the country by trucks, trains and ships are also significant.
“Even if you don’t have one of these in your neighbourhood, if you’ve got a motorway nearby, you’re almost certainly going to have material passing through your police area,” said Sampson. “When it’s on the move, that’s when it represents the biggest risk.”
He has been studying SMR security implications for the Alan Turing Institute, which researches data science.
What are Small Modular Reactors
Each SMR should be able to power 1 million homes, equivalent to 150 onshore wind turbines or one third of a conventional reactor, operating for 60 years or more. Small modular reactors are sometimes described as “prefab nuclear power stations.” It’s predicted that 90 per cent of their parts could be manufactured and assembled in factories, then transported to their intended sites and fitted together. A single SMR could occupy a space as small as two football pitches, according to Rolls-Royce – one tenth that of a conventional nuclear power station. For fuel, they will typically use pellets of enriched uranium dioxide encased in rods.Two researchers at King’s College London, Dr Zenobia Homan and Dr Ross Peel, have warned that SMRs increase the possibility of “insider threat.”
In a paper published last year, they wrote that having a greater range of locations could create more opportunities for “sabotage or theft of nuclear material” by malicious workers.
Peel has said he suspects security plans “are not where they should be,” telling New Civil Engineer magazine that “when security is left too late in the process, you end up doing it in a way that is not as good as it could be.”
National adversaries could also cause “enormous” disruption by spreading “bogus” rumours and reports about leaks or faulty equipment, said Sampson.
“When people were building the last round of nuclear reactors, I don’t think there was much capacity for causing community alarm by seeding false stories. Now you’ll be able to do it with convincing deepfake videos.”
Rolls-Royce is one of four firms hoping the Government will commission their SMR designs (Photo: Rolls-Royce)Calls for policing reforms
The CNC has previously been able to work at a limited number of remote locations, but its work could change hugely as increasing numbers of SMRs open.
Sampson worries the force could become overstretched, that additional burdens will be placed on local police services, and they might struggle to coordinate.
“The CNC model is to provide immediate armed resistance to an incursion or physical attack, while other resources are marshalled and dispatched,” he said. “Well, where are they coming from? And how many will you need to send? And what will you do with your other blue-light responders, which will largely be the local police?”
He thinks that instead of spreading CNC resources more thinly across the country, local police services could be given armed units, or a bigger UK-wide force could be created.
When Lord Harris questioned the Government in Parliament in January about who will protect and police SMRs, the Energy minister Lord Hunt replied that it was “a little early to give a definitive view.”
Sampson was disappointed by this response. He supports the nuclear industry and thinks SMRs are vital for the UK, but is alarmed the security strategy isn’t more advanced by now, and thinks this could worsen delays to the programme.
One of the world’s first commercial SMRs is being built in the Hainan province of China (Photo: Luo Yunfei / China News Service/VCG/Getty)The Government spokesperson said that any SMR “will need to have the highest levels of security in place.” They added that the Office for Nuclear Regulation “must approve their security plan covering physical, personnel and cyber security.”
The Government is due to announce this summer which SMR designs it will commission. Four firms are on the shortlist: Rolls-Royce, GE Hitachi, Holtec and Westinghouse.
However, a 64-page draft policy document about nuclear power, published by the Government in February, contained just two lines addressing security.
Prof John McNeill, a former member of the Civil Nuclear Police Authority, has warned that the “deafening silence” from policing bodies is “not reassuring to apprehensive communities” who may see SMRs built in their areas.
The CNC declined to comment. The National Industry Association did not respond.
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