23 Jan (NucNet): The UK’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) said today that it expects to nominate land near four existing nuclear sites for possible new-build.
The four sites are Sellafield in Cumbria, Wylfa in north Wales, Oldbury in Gloucestershire and Bradwell in Essex.
The NDA said it expects to put forward all four sites for consideration under the government’s Strategic Siting Assessment (SSA) process, which was set up to identify sites suitable for nuclear new build. The government’s consultation on the SSA process ended in November 2008.
The key purpose of the SSA is to shorten the planning process for new units by addressing siting issues at the beginning of the process. This would avoid unnecessary discussion during each planning application.
The government pointed out that the planning process for the Sizewell B reactor unit, where construction began in 1988, took six years and cost 30 million pounds (GBP) (40 million US dollars, 31 million euro).
When the SSA process is complete a ‘national policy statement’ on nuclear will be set out by the government in late 2009 or early 2010 and include a list of sites considered suitable.
Electricite de France (EDF) has already expressed its interest in building new units in the UK and is buying British Energy, the owner of most of the existing plants, so it can build at least four new units at those sites. EDF has already acquired substantial land interests around the NDA land at Wylfa.
Earlier this month German utilities RWE and E.ON joined forces to plan for new units in the UK, while Scottish and Southern Energy and Spain’s Iberdrola also plan to work together on new reactors.
On a visit to Sellafield this afternoon, prime minister Gordon Brown welcomed the confirmation of potential locations for new nuclear power plants.
He said: “During construction, each new plant would bring as many as 9,000 jobs, create up to 1,000 skilled long-term jobs when operational, and be worth about GBP 2 billion to the surrounding region and wider economy.”
* Details of the SSA process are on the Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform’s website (www.berr.gov.uk/whatwedo/energy/sources/nuclear/whitepaper/actions/siting/page47715.html).
>>Related reports in the NucNet database (available to subscribers)
RWE Npower Gets Grid Connection And Land For Possible New UK Plant (News No. 102, 30 December 2008)
German Utilities Launch Joint Venture To Build New UK Nuclear Plants (News in Brief No. 6, 15 January 2009)
UK And Spain Utilities Announce Joint Venture For New-Build (News No. 7, 20 January 2009)
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