Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy points to new wave of UK nuclear plants in address to MPs
The government's decision to give the green light to the controversial Hinkley Point C project in Somerset "will inaugurate a new era of UK nuclear power", according to Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Greg Clark.
Addressing MPs in the House of Commons today following the earlier announcement on Hinkley, Clark suggested the £18bn project marked the start of a long-term energy strategy in which a fleet of new UK nuclear power plants would be at the centre.
"This £18bn investment in Britain provides an upgrade in our supply for clean energy," the BEIS Secretary told MPs in the chamber. "When it begins producing energy in the middle of the next decade it will provide seven per cent of the UK's electricity needs, giving secure energy for six million homes for 60 years."
He added: "But as the first of a wave of new nuclear plants, we expect the experience of rebooting the nuclear industry to mean that costs should reduce for new nuclear power plants, of which there are another five proposed."
The UK currently has 16 nuclear reactors with a total capacity of 10GW, generating around a sixth of the UK's electricity needs. However, all but one are scheduled to begin decommissioning by 2030, and a new generation of nuclear power was therefore agreed in 2006 to try and plug the capacity gap.
As well as Hinkley, EDF Energy hopes to build new nuclear plants in Sizewell, Suffolk, and Bradwell in Essex. In addition, Horizon Nuclear Power, owned by Hitachi, has proposed constructing nuclear plants at both Wylfa, Anglesey, and Oldbury in Gloucestershire. Another facility proposed by NuGeneration has also been earmarked for the Moorside site at Sellafield in Cumbria.
Paving the way for a new fleet of nuclear power plants, Clark said the government had made changes to the Hinkley deal regarding security and foreign ownership of UK assets and would also seek to reform legislation along these lines for future projects.
Hinkley, he said "unleashes a long overdue new wave of investment in nuclear engineering in the UK, creating 26,000 jobs and apprenticeships, and providing a huge boost to the economy not only in the South West but in every part of the country through the supply chain of firms big and small that will benefit from the investment".
"The electricity generated will be reliable and low carbon, and so will be completely compatible with our climate change obligations," Clark said. "And Hinkley Point C will inaugurate a new era of UK nuclear power, with UK-based business benefiting from almost two thirds of the £18bn value of the project."
Following Clark's statement to MPs, SNP's spokesperson for energy and climate change, Callum McCaig, criticised the government for its "gamble" on the Hinkley deal, which he said "remains a rotten one".
McCaig also questioned the potential for delays to Hinkley, which he said could leave the UK with a significant electricity capacity gap in the 2020s.
"If it is built late, what fills the gap?" he asked Clark in the Commons. "We know that coal is due to come off the system by 2025 when this is meant to be coming online. If that gap is there, if that gap is five years, what will fill it and at what cost?"
Moreover, he said the UK "could use our expertise better" and develop an industrial strategy towards homegrown, clean and renewable energy.
"We could be developing the homegrown industries that will see our country flourish, investing in clean carbon capture, investing in offshore wind, investing in storage, investing in solar - these things would all be better," said McCaig. "So can I ask the minister to invest in the energy of the future, rather than the energy of the past?"
However, also responding to the news, Labour's Shadow Secretary of State for International Trade, Europe, Energy and Climate Change, Barry Gardiner, said it was "vital" that Hinkley Point C goes ahead because of its important role in the future of the UK's energy mix.
But he criticised the government's failure to negotiate a lower strike price with EDF for the project. "As the government undertook to review all components of the deal this summer, it is extraordinary that they have not reviewed the price per unit of power, and saddles consumers with a bill that has already increased from £6bn to £30bn," said Gardiner. "What we desperately need from the government is to get on with the job in hand, which is to provide a well thought out strategy to deal with the future energy challenges our country will face."
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