British Government to Spend $19 Billion on New Nuclear Plant

New York Times

2 days ago

The British government said on Tuesday that it would spend as much as 14.2 billion pounds, or about $19 billion, on constructing a nuclear power station, a project that is expected to create 10,000 jobs and help light up six million homes.
The decision likely means that the giant plant called Sizewell C, whose site on the east coast of England was first identified by the government in 2009, will receive a go-ahead. Much of the funding will come from the government.
EDF, the French state-owned energy group, will build the plant and be part owner. Britain hopes to attract other funding.
Nuclear power plants can cost tens of billions of dollars to build, but they have regained favor in recent years in Britain and elsewhere because they produce large volumes of steady electric power with few emissions. The plants are also viewed as way to enhance energy security.
The emergence of artificial intelligence, and the growing demand for data centers to run those systems, has also raised the appeal of nuclear energy.
Nuclear power accounted for about 14 percent of Britain's electricity supply last year.
While announcing funding for the Sizewell plant, the British government also said it had chosen Rolls-Royce SMR, a unit of the aircraft engine maker, as the 'preferred bidder' to build so-called small modular nuclear reactors in partnership with a state company called Great British Energy.
The government said it was planning to spend 2.5 billion pounds on these smaller power plants, which are being designed to be largely built in factories rather than on work sites, theoretically cutting labor costs.
Britain also said it would spend a similar amount on so-called nuclear fusion, a technology that could produce large volumes of clean energy if it ever reaches commercial viability.
'We need new nuclear to deliver a golden age of clean energy abundance, ' Britain's energy secretary, Ed Miliband, said in a statement.
EDF, the French utility, has experienced major challenges at the other large nuclear power plant under construction in Britain, known as Hinkley Point C, whose completion has been delayed many years while costs have soared. The final price tag could exceed 40 billion pounds.
Proponents of Sizewell C say that the experience of building Hinkley Point will lower the cost of the new plant. Still, the final price tag is likely to run into tens of billions of pounds.
The new plant will be near Sizewell B, which began operating in 1995 and was the last nuclear power station completed in Britain.
The country has a strong rating in nuclear research, but industry experts say that during its long hiatus, Britain's skills in nuclear construction atrophied, a key reason for the higher costs. The nuclear industry in the United States has also encountered cost overruns.
Still, the British government sees nuclear plants as an attractive option because electric power demand is expected to rise and the existing plants are aging and being gradually shut down.