nuclear power

"Things can and do go wrong, whether that is from renewables, fossil fuels or nuclear power. This could be the Swiss cheese model, where the holes in the system have happened to align."

The country's nuclear power plants automatically stopped when the blackout hit, and the Spanish oil company Moeve said it halted operations at its oil refineries.

As part of this plan, the US might also take control of the controversial Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant – currently in Russian hands – and feed the electricity to both parts of Ukrainian territory.

As a 2015 analysis put it, “Economics killed small nuclear power plants in the past — and probably will keep doing so.”

There is also a large Chinese investment in the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station in Somerset.