Nuclear mattersU.K. to build ten new nuclear power plants by 2025
The United Kingdom will build ten new nuclear power plants by 2025; these plants will supply 25 percent of the country’s energy needs; to move the licensing process quickly, the government has promised “faster and fairer planning decisions”
Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas) —
The U.K. government has revealed plans to build ten new nuclear power stations that will provide about 25 percent of the country’s power by 2025. Of the eleven sites submitted by the nuclear industry, only the Dungeness site was turned down on the basis of environmental impact, coastal erosion, and associated flood risk at the location. The sites were named in the government’s draft Nuclear National Policy Statement (NPS), one of a series of statements regarding nuclear policy that was released last week.
To get the plants built, however, will require a radical overhaul of the current planning system. The government has come under fire over the slow and uneven planning system in place for energy projects. For instance, the Fullabrook 66-megawatt (MW) wind farm took more than three years to secure planning permission, while the Sizewell B nuclear unit took six years to secure planning consent, costing £30 million ($50 million). The government has promised “faster and fairer planning decisions.” As a result, decisions on proposals larger than 50 MW (100 MW for offshore wind farms) will be reduced from two years or more to one year.
