New nuclear power stations to be announced by Ed Miliband

2009 Nov 9

Scotland: A new generation of nuclear power stations will be up and running within a decade, Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary will announce.

A “majority” of the 11 shortlisted sites already announced are expected to be given the go-ahead by Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary, including those beside existing plants at Hinkley Point in Somerset and Sizewell in Suffolk. Two locations near to Sellafield in Cumbria are also expected to receive the green light.

Mr Miliband will also announce a new Infrastructure Planning Commission which will mean planning applications for nuclear plants will be fast-tracked, avoiding the kind of delays which dogged the six-year battle over the building of the Sizewell B power plant.

The new stations could be up and running as soon as 2017, with Mr Miliband making clear that the Government believes that “saying no” to nuclear is not an option if Britain is to meet its climate change commitments.

EDF, E.ON and RWE are among the firms who have expressed an interest in running the new power stations. Earlier this year, a shortlist of proposed sites was put out to a six-month consultation.

Hinkley Point, which is proposed by the French firm EDF, would become the country’s first pressurised water reactor. The company also aims to establish two reactors at the Somerset site, along with two at Sizewell.

The proposed sites near the Sellafield nuclear complex in Cumbria, which are currently farmland and have been bought by the German-owned RWE npower, are also thought almost certain to receive the go-ahead. One, in mid-Copeland already has access to the national grid; the other is in mid-Copeland.

Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/energy/nuclearpower/6526566/New-nuclear-power-stations-to-be-announced-by-Ed-Miliband.html

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