Nuclear AMRC Industry intelligence Nominated sites for nuclear new build

The UK Government’s energy national policy statement in October 2010 identified eight sites judged suitable for new nuclear power stations. All of these nominated sites already have operating or shut-down nuclear plant.

The nominated sites are:

• Bradwell, Essex • Hartlepool, Durham • Heysham, Lancashire • Hinkley Point, Somerset • Oldbury, Gloucestershire • Sellafield, Cumbria • Sizewell, Suffolk • Wylfa, Anglesey

Three locations which had been identified in the previous policy statement were dismissed as unsuitable for new build. These were Braystones and Kirksanton in Cumbria; and Dungeness, Kent.

The companies which are proposing to build new reactors in the UK have acquired land at many of these nominated sites.

EDF Energy, in partnership with Centrica, is proposing to build new plant at Hinkley Point and Sizewell. The group is planning to install four Areva EPR reactors with a total capacity of 6.4GWe. EDF is currently building an EPR plant at Flamanville, France. For more information, see http://www.edfenergy.com/

Horizon Nuclear Power, a joint venture between E.ON UK and RWE npower which is up to 6GWe new capacity, has acquired land and agreed connections for Wylfa and Oldbury. Horizon has not made a decision yet on whether it will use Areva or Westinghouse reactors, but has contracted preliminary work from both vendors. For more information, see http://horizonnuclearpower.com/

NuGeneration, a joint venture between Iberdrola, GDF Suez, and Scottish and Southern Energy has acquired land at Sellafield, and is intending to build up to 3.6GWe new capacity. The consortium is waiting for the results of the Generic Design Assessment before selecting a reactor design. For more information, see http://nugeneration.com/ For more information about UK nuclear manufacturing, see http://www.namrc.co.uk/