UK's new nuclear ambitions 'have only just begun'

"The work we are doing to drive forward Hinkley Point C, Sizewell C and our SMR programme will together bring more nuclear capacity onto the grid than in the last half century combined," he said.

He added: "When you think about the demands of electricity, there is so much more this industry can do."
 
Miliband said the government is "determined to deliver on the promise" of technologies such as small modular reactors (SMRs) and advanced modular reactors (AMRs). "We are soon going to publish a framework for privately-funded advanced nuclear projects. As we set out at the Spending Review, Great British Energy - Nuclear (GBE-N) has been tasked with assessing proposals, working with the National Wealth Fund and helping government break down the barriers. And the government will use GBE-N's assessment to give early 'in principle' endorsements that can help credible privately-led projects mobilise the capital they need. We are really serious about these privately-led routes to market and that's what our framework will provide."

On siting and planning, he said the government is reforming planning rules to expand the areas where projects can be built beyond the eight existing sites and include technologies like SMRs and AMRs for the very first time. "The new framework was laid in parliament last month and is due to come into effect later this year. Taking advantage of this new framework, I have commissioned GBE-N to identify suitable sites across the UK that could potentially host another large-scale nuclear project, including in Scotland. That will report back by Autumn next year to inform future Spending Reviews. And this will align with the Strategic Spatial Energy Plan which will also be published next year and will inform our future nuclear building programme into the 2030s and beyond."

Miliband also welcomed the recent publication of the recommendations of the Nuclear Regulatory Taskforce, led by John Fingleton. "As the Prime Minster said on Monday, we are accepting the Fingleton recommendations. We think the principle of all of them is right and we are determined to make building nuclear power quicker and cheaper. My department has already begun implementing recommendations in the review, including on risk management and proportionality. And the government will produce our full implementation plan within three months ... appropriate regulation has an important role to play in ensuring safety, environmental protection and accountability."

"On streamlining regulation and more widely, I want you to be clear about our determination to work with you to seize the opportunities of new nuclear for Britain," he told delegates. "And my most important message to you is: we are not resting on our laurels. We have only just begun when it comes to our ambitions for new nuclear in the UK."

The minister said it was important to let people know about the economic impacts of nuclear new-build projects, such as Sizewell C; "This impact will go far beyond the local area, supporting thousands of companies - from steelmaking in the Rhonda to welding in Hull to enrichment at Urenco in Cheshire. It has already delivered over GBP2.8 billion in contracts with UK suppliers. With billions more to come."

On the nuclear supply chain, Miliband said the government "welcomes the ambitious targets for domestic content in major projects like Hinkley and Sizewell - with Hinkley exceeding its original goal. And whether it's investing in skills and apprenticeships to support the Nuclear Skills Plan, driving research and innovation, or supporting our brilliant manufacturers, engineers, and supply chain, I believe we can work together to deliver these opportunities for Britain".

Large-scale reactors still planned

Speaking at the same event, Simon Bowen, Chair of GBE-N, spoke about the prospect of more gigawatt capacity, saying "it's a critical part of the mix. And the identification of which sites could be used is a really important piece of work. Of course, you've got places like Torness, which everybody talks about being a great site in Scotland. We've got sites around the UK that we can look at. That is a crucial piece of work, which will then be followed by, subject to us getting the spending review, funding to support it, then the next stage of how you go about selecting what gigawatt technology we need.

"Of course we've got an established technology at Hinkley and Sizewell and that must be a very credible frontrunner or a credible technology for us to continue to develop, but we have to market-test that to see whether or not there are better value-for-money options for the taxpayer and that is a natural thing for us to do."

On the UK supply chain, Bowen said it is "nowhere near as mature as we need it to be for the scale of endeavour that we have ahead of ourselves". He added: "We are going to have to invest in the supply chain. We are going to have to make some big decisions to make sure that we continue that investment so that we can grow the UK supply chain ... we've got to work out what that collective supply chain looks like, how we collectively deliver on our commitment to maximise UK content, and then to look how we work with government to start to enhance the supply chain capability that exists, and of course, all of the skills that go with that."

'Whole-of-nation endeavour'

EDF UK's Chair Alex Chisholm said that Hinkley Point C "is the cornerstone project for the nuclear renaissance we're seeing in Britain. And the renaissance could not be more timely, as output this year from our aging nuclear fleet will be about 33 TWh, 13% of what the UK uses, and the lowest level since 1981."

"When you have a single station able to power 6 million homes – as will be the case for each of Hinkley Point C and Sizewell C – the State is going to be intensely interested," he said. "Once Hinkley Point C and Sizewell C come online, they will be delivering clean, secure, sovereign electricity well into the next century - which I find an extraordinary thought. Add in the huge financial investment, the regulatory processes, the industrial and employment benefits, the ultra-long-term storage requirements, and the geostrategic aspects; yes - nuclear business is truly State business.

"But the State alone cannot deliver nuclear power. That requires partnership with the private sector, expert input from leading universities and colleges, and support from the communities where the power stations operate – a whole-of-nation endeavour. When you think about Hinkley Point C, don't think only of the construction site in Somerset, think about the factories, facilities and communities across the UK that supply the components, materials and skilled labour needed. Building Hinkley Point C relies on the output of 4,600 UK firms. Just as the running of our existing nuclear fleet relies on 1,400 firms."

Chisholm said Hinkley Point C "epitomised the challenges of financing a first-of-a-kind project with significant construction risk". Consequently only State-backed developers – primarily EDF – were willing to bear the financial burden, he said. "Second-of-a-kind is a different case: enabling us to 'build and repeat' a design with minimal changes. This really helps to bring down costs and risks, as expertise, supply chains and skills are developed, and best practice established."

He said EDF is already seeing examples of replication benefits at Hinkley Point C, with performance improving by 20-30% when work is repeated from unit 1 to unit 2. "These productivity gains and innovations will benefit Sizewell C from the start. The reduced construction risk has made the project more attractive to private investors. For the first time, private investors are working together with government to fund a new nuclear project."

The industry must move to a mode of steady roll-out of new nuclear projects, Chisholm said. "A steady roll-out means looking beyond the completion of Hinkley Point C, Sizewell C and even Wylfa, to know in good time what comes afterwards. It means bridging the gap to the missing parts of the UK nuclear cycle, including better fuel production and storage options. It also means harnessing the opportunity to export our nuclear know-how to support the renaissance of nuclear across Europe and the rest of the world."

To get the full benefits from the UK's nuclear renaissance, Chisholm said the industry must "build, build, build at Hinkley, Sizewell and now Wylfa - and we need to start planning today what comes next". It must also capitalise on the country's renewed supply chain and retrained nuclear workforce. The industry must heed the government's call for lower cost and more proportionate regulation, while maintaining its safety record. It must also maintain community support through engagement and partnership with local communities.

Julia Pyke, Joint Managing Director of Sizewell C, said the fact that the project will be a replica of Hinkley Point C was an "absolute key" to EDF gaining finance. "Because it's a replica, it lowers construction risk. And that also gives us much bigger confidence in the cost estimate, meaning that the government agreed to reduce the regulated asset-based model, which for us shares cost overrun risk 50/50 between consumers and equity. And fleet build, of course, enables more predictable outcomes, more efficient construction, and that's what we see around the world."

Building the UK's first SMR

Rolls-Royce SMR CEO Chris Cholerton said the company - which was selected in June as the preferred bidder to construct the UK's first SMRs - is "trying to leverage experience from many other industries and other sectors to address the lessons learned from traditional approaches to nuclear projects". He said the company was "not just deploying a small version of a large plant. We're building a standardised modular product that can then be deployed at scale. It's all about the fleet approach and introducing a production system mindset to the delivery of a plant, including its assembly and construction."

He added: "Importantly, we're modularising value right across the plant, not just in the reactor, which is only about 25% of the value of the total plant. To address the issues we're trying to address, we need to modularise more widely with that. And it's important to remember, again, why we're doing all this. It's to reduce the overall schedule, as I referred to, reduce complexity on site, and deliver standardisation, and therefore increasing delivery certainty."

Cholerton said Rolls-Royce SMR plans to announce during the first half of 2026 the location of its module factory, where the most complex safety-critical modules for its SMR will be manufactured.