London wants a third nuclear power plant

The British government announced on Thursday that it was considering a third new large nuclear power plant in the country, in addition to the ongoing projects of Hinkley Point C, under construction, and Sizewell C, under development, both led by the French energy company EDF.

The executive released a “nuclear roadmap” on Thursday, which plans to explore the construction of a major new power plant, according to a statement. The United Kingdom is aiming for carbon neutrality by 2050 and has placed renewed emphasis on energy security since the start of the war in Ukraine.

Deputy Secretary of State for Nuclear Andrew Bowie told the Financial Times on Thursday that the UK was “on track” to complete fundraising for the Sizewell C project before the end of the year. According to the business daily, the government needs to raise around 20 billion pounds (23 billion euros) from outside investors before construction can begin. London announced at the end of 2022 that it would take a direct 50% share in the Sizewell C project, in parallel with the exit of Chinese partner CGN and committed to investing 1.2 billion pounds.

The United Kingdom, which hopes to cover a quarter of its electricity needs through nuclear power by 2050, and which today has nine traditional reactors in service, also wants to rely on small modular reactors. Six finalist companies, including the British Rolls-Royce and EDF, were selected in October by the executive during a call for tenders to build these small atomic reactors.

The French energy company, which has been the operator of the existing nuclear fleet across the Channel since 2009, for its part announced Tuesday in a press release that it “plans to invest an additional 1.3 billion pounds in the five nuclear power plants in UK production over the period 2024-2026.

London also announced on Sunday the launch of a program for the production of uranium-based fuel, currently produced commercially only by Russia.