Nuclear Power Plant Imposed in the Uk

Nuclear Power Plant in the UK

Recently there has been a new discussion in the United Kingdom about the construction of a Nuclear Power plant: The Hinckley Point C plant in Somerset (Suffolk). This process has both negative and positive externalities on the population in Somerset and the UK. Negative externalities of production are an example of market failure, which occurs when the production of a good or service creates costs that have a negative effect to third parties. This takes into account environmental problems where the cost to society is greater than the private cost paid by the firm and thus a third party pays external costs.

In this article published in the BBC website, it discusses the possibility of building the Nuclear Plant and goes over the positive aspects of it. The government estimated that energy bills will be 77 pounds lower by 2023 but Mr Davey (Energy Secretary) could not guarantee this due to possible uncertainties. If the expansion continues, by 2023, Hinkley will be producing over 7% of the energy in the United Kingdom, 6 times more than now augmenting their market share and their brand reputation in the UK to sell energy at a cheaper rate than other competitors.

If the plant was built the contamination will be caused by the production plant, which emits high levels of radioactive waste. This could cause children to have both health problems and less education, imposing the negative externalities on society, without adding the fact of something going wrong in the process of creation or once working and destroying he flora and fauna like the world has experience in Chernobyl or Japan. The total marginal social cost, which is the total cost t society as a whole for producing one further unit, and is the sum of private costs plus externalities, will not be paid by the firm as it only pays the private cost, so the external costs such as higher medical expenses, more workers to protect the environment or poorer quality of life for...