The European Commission must acknowledge the "critical role" that nuclear energy has to play under its sustainable finance initiative, European nuclear trade body Foratom said yesterday. The Commission, it said, should reconsider its decision to exclude nuclear from economic activities covered by the initiative.

The UK has opened for consultation its assessment of a new financing model aimed at reducing the cost of new nuclear power plant projects by having consumers pay upfront through their energy bills. A solution is needed urgently because nuclear energy is seen as a vital part of the government's commitment to cutting the country's carbon emissions to net zero by 2050. Seven of the UK's eight existing nuclear plants are set to be retired by 2030.

Greg Clark, the UK's secretary of state for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, today spoke “candidly” about the unprecedented financial terms offered to Hitachi ahead of the company’s decision to suspend its new nuclear power plant project.

Financial challenges facing nuclear energy need to be tackled by disrupting the status quo to help drive down costs, delegates heard at the recent World Nuclear Association 2018 Symposium in London.

NuGeneration and Horizon Nuclear Power expect the strike price they agree with the UK government for their respective new build projects will be lower than the one agreed for EDF Energy's Hinkley Point C plant.