PM unveils plans to make it easier to build new nuclear reactors
The UK Government is pledging to create thousands of highly skilled jobs by reforming planning rules to make it easier to build new nuclear reactors.
The Prime Minister announced that more nuclear power plants will be approved across England and Wales as red tape will be “slashed”.
The reforms will clear a path for so-called small modular reactors (SMRs) to be built for the first time in the UK which ministers said would help to deliver clean, secure and more affordable energy.
The Government announced that “archaic” rules will be ripped up while growth will be prioritised ahead of local opponents, or NIMBYs.
‘Lagged’
The UK has been left lagging behind in the global race for cleaner, more affordable energy after years of delay and obstruction, with the last nuclear power station built in 1995, said ministers.
Under moves announced today, mini-nuclear power stations will be included in planning rules for the first time and a set list of eight sites where they can only be built will be scrapped.
The expiry date on nuclear planning rules will be scrapped, and a Nuclear Regulatory Taskforce will be established.
Ministers said Britain is considered one of the world’s most expensive countries in which to build nuclear power, so the taskforce will speed up the approval of new reactor designs and streamline how developers engage with regulators.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said: “This country hasn’t built a nuclear power station in decades. We’ve been let down and left behind.
“Our energy security has been hostage to Putin for too long, with British prices skyrocketing at his whims.
“I’m putting an end to it – changing the rules to back the builders of this nation, and saying no to the blockers who have strangled our chances of cheaper energy, growth and jobs for far too long.”
‘Build’
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said: “Build, build, build – that is what Britain’s clean energy mission is all about.
“The British people have been left vulnerable to global energy markets for too long – and the only way out is to build our way to a new era of clean electricity.
“Nuclear power creating thousands of skilled jobs. That is what this Government will deliver.”
Tom Greatrex, chief executive of the Nuclear Industry Association, said: “This is the Prime Minister’s strongest signal yet that new nuclear is critical to the growth and clean power mission.
“A more streamlined planning system will give certainty to investors, the supply chain and communities, and will enable us to get on with building new nuclear plants on more sites and at pace for a cleaner, more secure power system.
“We need to make Britain the best possible place to build new nuclear, both large-scale and SMRs, which means avoiding unnecessary stumbling blocks and ensuring regulations are proportionate to our urgent need for low carbon power, energy security and good jobs.”
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Lets one in the Cotswolds, two in Surrey and perhaps the Houses of Parliament should have their own somewhere in Westminster.
I’d rather have some storage for Solar and Wind.
Is it going to be easier to build battery instalations too?
One of the reasons there has not been a new nuclear power station in decades is because they are poorly designed and there is no incentive to complete construction on time as they are paid for from the bottomless public purse.
Hinckley Point is over ten years late already and is more than double the planned cost, and will not be producing any electricity this decade.
Fully agree. Ultimately the decision the government will have to take is if they are prepared to commit anything between 40 and 90 billion for another nuclear power station, which will not generate until 2040-2045 on current timescales. And find someone to build it, only Sizewell has a preferred contractor. Slashing red tape doesn’t mean SMRs are any closer to being at a viable prototype stage. For what it’s worth, in my view the government is doing the right thing; leaving the door open for nuclear, making it more attractive but not committing. Though you argue, that’s what they’ve done… Read more »
Is Clark an anagram of Trwmp…a man for all seasons…we hate nimbys but can live with genocidal maniacs if it makes a profit…the FS effect…JCB or Caterpillar…?
This is the strongest reason – apart from our pride – why Cymru should leave ‘the UK’. We don’t need nuclear (er, neither does England). Think more energy = more heat. We don’t need that either! More pylons. We don’t need them either. Starmer and co may have decided to ignore climate change and nuclear waste but both bite! Just ask anyone whose house has flooded. Or suffered from excess radiation exposure. This mad rush for ever-increasing energy production is a disaster for our country – and for the planet. Cymru will not survive this onslaught on our sovereignty. Senedd… Read more »
Nuclear Energy NO Thanks.!
Renewable are safer and cheaper!