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I found this presentation by Matthew Stocks et al and asked the permission of Professor Andrew Blakers to extend it with a section on the potential in the UK. He agreed, and Dr Matthew Stocks kindly provided extracts for the UK.

This shows that there are 195 sites in the UK, with a total potential capacity of 6047 GWh.
As the requirement for 100% renewable electricity is only about 1400 GWh, it would be possible to select the best, near to existing grid power lines, and with the greatest height difference between the upper and lower reservoirs.

However, the UK has several interconnectors to neighbouring countries, some with time differences. These should allow 100% renewable electricity to be achieved with somewhat less pumped storage in the UK and the neighbouring countries.

Channel 4 made a multi-part series of programmes with this title.
The sub-title was: The dramatic, shocking story of Britain’s race for the nuclear bomb, the devastating fallout for the servicemen at the tests, and the veterans’ long fight for justice'.

I watched all the parts, and made notes.
Then I typed up the notes and followed up mentions and links to produce this document.

I watched videos on climate change by Professors Johan Rockstroem and Stefan Rahmsdorf of the Potsdam Climatological Institute in Germany.
This prompted me to create the document ‘2024-10-12 A Note on Climate and Energy’.

The UK government proposes to build nuclear power plants totalling 24 GW.
This implies Hinkley Point C, Sizewell C and about six more of similar size.
The Labour party proposes to include nuclear power in it’s new ‘green’ energy policy.
Yet nuclear power has no future, as shown in this document of 3 pages with 52 references.

The first section shows that nuclear fuel may be effectively exhausted before 2050, when the climate targets should be met.
The second section shows that the costs of nuclear power have risen over time, and are now uncompetitive.
So nuclear power must be replaced by sustainable and affordable options such as energy savings and renewables like wind, solar and storage.

The third section shows that nuclear power conflicts with energy savings and renewables, so impairing the business case and deterring investment.
So the UK should phase out nuclear power and join the rest of the world in deploying energy savings and renewables.

Although this document is published after the latest Government and Labour Party proposals,
I have published many earlier documents on nuclear power, dating from 2006-0-19. (See below).
Most notably, my report on the Fukushima disaster was published on 2012-04-11, with copies sent to several MPs and Ministers.

Options for low-carbon space and water heating include:
• Low-carbon Hydrogen replacing natural gas in the gas network.
• Individual Electric Heat Pumps using renewable electricity.
• District Heating (DH) with large Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plants and renewable heat.

Low-carbon Hydrogen and Electricity even for Heat Pumps are still poor exergy matches for space and water heating.
Modern District Heating networks have an annual average water flow temperature of about 70o C.
So by the Second Law of Thermodynamics, they give the best possible exergy match to space and water heat loads.
Compared with current gas boilers, large CHP plants give large savings in fuel consumption and CO2 emissions for heat.
They can be Combined Cycle, fuelled with gas or biomethane, or Steam Cycle, fuelled with Municipal Waste or Biomass.

Only District Heating can harness low-carbon renewable heat sources, such as solar and deep geothermal heat, as well as excess renewable electricity.

Unlike gas boilers and electric heat pumps, District Heating enables the central CHP and renewable heat plant to be halved in size, due to the Diversity of the individual heat loads.

Copenhagen, using District Heating with heat from large Combined Heat and Power plants and renewable sources, is on track to be zero-carbon by 2025.