UK Government Confirms £14.2bn Investment to Deliver Sizewell C
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has said the UK needs new nuclear to 'deliver a golden age of clean energy abundance' as the UK Government announced a £14.2 billion investment to build Sizewell C nuclear plant.
Ten thousand jobs will be created , the UK Government said, including 1,500 apprenticeships. It added that the funding would also support thousands more jobs across the UK.
The company has already signed £330 million in contracts with local companies and will boost supply chains across the UK with 70% of contracts predicted to go to 3,500 British suppliers, supporting new jobs in construction, welding, and hospitality.
The equivalent of around six million homes will be powered with clean homegrown energy from Sizewell C.
The announcement comes as the UK Government is set to confirm one of Europe's first Small Modular Reactor programmes. Taken together with Sizewell C, this delivers the biggest nuclear building programme in a generation, it said.
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said:
'We will not accept the status quo of failing to invest in the future and energy insecurity for our country.
'We need new nuclear to deliver a golden age of clean energy abundance, because that is the only way to protect family finances, take back control of our energy, and tackle the climate crisis.
'This is the Government's clean energy mission in action- investing in lower bills and good jobs for energy security.'
The UK opened the world's first commercial nuclear power station in the 1950s, but no new nuclear plant has opened in the UK since 1995, with all of the existing fleet except Sizewell B likely to be phased out by the early 2030s.
Great British Nuclear is expected to announce the outcome of its small modular reactor competition imminently, the first step towards the goal of driving down costs and unlocking private finance with a long-term ambition to bring forward one of the first SMR fleets in Europe.
Small modular reactors are expected to power millions of homes with clean energy and help fuel power-hungry industries like AI data centres.
The UK Government said it was also looking to provide a route for private sector-led advanced nuclear projects to be deployed in the UK, alongside investing £300 million in developing the world's first non-Russian supply of the advanced fuels needed to run them.
Companies will be able to work with the UK Government to continue their development with potential investment from the National Wealth Fund.
The UK Government is also making a record investment in R&D for fusion energy, investing over £2.5 billion over 5 years. This includes progressing the STEP programme (Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production), the world-leading fusion plant in Nottinghamshire, creating thousands of new jobs and with the potential to unlock limitless clean power.
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