United Kingdom promise of 11.5 billion pounds sterling of funding for the new state for the nuclear power plant of Sizewell C
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The United Kingdom has ended years of uncertainty about the future of its nuclear industry by promising 11.5 billion pounds to finance new states for the Sizewell C project in Suffolk, which brings the total investment of taxpayers on the site to 17.8 billion pounds sterling.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves will announce record public investment in nuclear energy on Tuesday, told participants in the GMB Congress that she ended the “years of delay” on Sizewell, who will support the creation of 10,000 jobs.
Although Reeves had to make difficult decisions in examining government spending on daily ministerial budgets, she was able to find the additional billions for Sizewell C thanks to a change in her tax rules. This made 113 billion sterling pounds available for additional capital expenses within the government, funded by the loan.
This decision marks a return to significant state funding for nuclear energy after the United Kingdom chose the private sector to finance and build its latest project, Hinkley Point C in Somerset, which is strongly delayed and exceeded the budget. The previous record public investment in nuclear energy was 2 billion pounds sterling for the Sizewell B factory in 1987, or 7 billion pounds sterling today.
The British government already has a partnership with the French state energy group EDF, which has maintained a 15% stake in Sizewell C. The couple is now looking for financial commitments from several other investors before being able to sign a “final investment decision”, expected next month at an Anglo-French summit in London.
The Chancellor promises 14.2 billion pounds of taxpayers for the 3.2 gigawatt factory on the current parliament, including a commitment of 2.7 billion pounds Sterling which she previously made in the fall budget. The treasure had already hired 3.6 billion pounds sterling in the past two years.
EDF said that the final investment decision will depend on the private investment guarantee and the possibility of making a return to the planned capital, but Simone Rossi, British director of the company, said that the project would benefit the “energy and economic growth” of the United Kingdom.
Private investors who should teach for challenges in Sizewell C include the Canadian CDPQ retirement fund, Amber Infrastructure Partners, Brookfield Asset Management, Fund USS, Schroders Greencoat, Equitix, Centrica and Rothesay insurer. The total cost of the project could be close to 40 billion sterling pounds at the time of its construction, believe industry figures.
The ministers encourage the development of new nuclear power plants in the United Kingdom to provide future “basic” electricity supplies to balance the more intermittent supply of solar and wind energy.
But no new nuclear power plant has opened in the United Kingdom since 1995 and most of the existing aging fleet – apart from Sizewell B – should be removed in the early 2030s.
The great British nuclear power belonging to the State will soon announce the result of its competition to choose a company to start building a fleet of “small modular reactors”.
The government said it would also invest more than 2.5 billion pounds in the nuclear fusion over five years in what it called a “record investment” in emerging technology. Melanie Windridge, head of the Fusion Energy Insights advisory group, congratulated the government for recognizing the “economic value of the development of the merger in this country”. The sum is slightly lower than the United States spending in molten and a third of China’s annual investment on technology.
Additional report by Tom Wilson
