Potential new UK plant sites named

15 April 2009

The UK government has published a list of eleven potential sites for new nuclear power plants, which have been nominated through the Strategic Siting Assessment (SSA) process.
 
At the end of January, the government gave the nuclear industry two months in which to nominate sites for the first wave of new nuclear power plants. The call for nominations came as the criteria were published against which potential sites will be assessed.
 
The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has now published the list of nominated sites "after vetting all applications to ensure they were credible, that the sites could be operational by 2025 and that the nominator had raised public awareness of their intention to nominate."
 
The sites have been nominated by Electricite de France (EdF), EOn and RWE, and by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), which owns some of the land.
 

Site

Nominator

   
Bradwell, Essex

NDA

Braystones, Cumbria

RWE

Dungeness, Kent

EdF

Hartlepool, Cleveland

EdF

Heysham, Lancashire

EdF

Hinkley Point, Somerset

EdF

Kirksanton, Cumbria

RWE

Oldbury, Gloucestershire

NDA & EOn

Sellafield, Cumbria

NDA

Sizewell, Suffolk

EdF

Wylfa, North Wales

NDA & RWE

   

 

Ed Miliband, the UK's energy and climate change minister, said: "This is another important step towards a new generation of nuclear power stations. I want to listen to what people have to say about these nominations and I encourage people to log-on to our website, read the information and let us have their comments. We will consider this alongside the advice of our independent expert regulators."
 
He added, "Nuclear power is part of the low carbon future for Britain. It also has the potential to offer thousands of jobs to the UK and multi-million pound opportunities to British businesses."
 
The publication of the list of potential UK sites was welcomed by the country's Nuclear Industry Association (NIA). Keith Parker, NIA chief executive, commented, "The announcement of sites shows we're making strong and tangible progress towards building new nuclear power stations, which will help keep the UK's lights on and drive down our carbon emissions."
 
He added, "Since the government gave the go-ahead for new nuclear in 2008, the industry has worked tirelessly to put the necessary processes in place to bring new nuclear online in good time, and at no expense to the public sector. Today's announcement demonstrates a key step towards a new fleet of nuclear power stations for the UK - with the first on course for the end of 2017."
 
Following a one-month public comment period, information from the public will be used alongside the advice of regulators and other specialists. Sites which are judged to be potentially suitable will be included in the draft National Policy Statement (NPS) on nuclear power which will be published later this year for public consultation. This is part of the new planning system under the new Planning Act 2008. The NPS will set the policy framework for the new independent Infrastructure Planning Commission's decisions on new nuclear power.