Hinkley gets the Go Ahead……

Finally some good news on the horizon for the UK’s civil nuclear power generation programme.  Following the disappointments after the withdrawal of German interest in the new build agenda, step forward the rural county of Somerset to put things right.

After more than three years of negotiation, a major obstacle to the construction of a new nuclear reactor on the site at Hinkley Point in Somerset was overcome after the local authorities involved dropped their opposition to the scheme.  French utility company EDF Energy has promised to contribute over £64 million to the local economy, to improve educational facilities in Somerset, community centres as well as allowing the construction of housing.  Spending plans will be presented by the company before the end of the year.

The real estate and commercial property implications are significant, with construction costs on the reactor facility alone expected to be in the region of £7 billion.  Additionally, there will be significant knock on effects in the locality, with related and other support services.

This is not, however, the signal for the first spade to be put in the ground.  Despite the fact that the generating capacity of the UK remains in perilous state, with the much discussed date of December 2017 looming there are plenty of considerations yet to be defined.

As well as convincing the nuclear regulator to grant a nuclear site license, EDF will require to obtain the necessary environmental permit together with approval for the design of the intended reactor, and there’s the small matter of the planning inspectorate.  The Energy Secretary will have to approve their overall finance plan and, to cap it all there will have to be approval of the intended charging structure for the energy produced.

There are a profusion of alternate, energy producing schemes in process in the UK, all of which have a place in the energy generating mix.  This important step in the development of the power generating agenda moves the UK a step closer to keeping the lights on.

Nuclear New Build UK Sites Announced

The Government has released details of the locations for the sites of the next generation of new build nuclear power generating stations.

The locations are at Bradwell in Essex, Hinkley Point, Somerset, Oldbury in Gloucestershire, Sellafield in West Cumbria, Sizewell in Suffolk and Wylfa on Anglesey, Hartlepool, Teeside & Heysham in Lancashire.  Each if the proposed sites is adjacent to an existing licensed nuclear site owned by either the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) or British Energy (BE).  During 2009/2010 the Government instructed that surplus land adjacent to licensed sited that were in public ownership be disposed of, netting a very tidy sum for the public coffers and it is anticipated that this land will form part of the new build programme.

The development of new power generating capacity for the UK is essential as by the end of the decade a significant proportion of the existing capacity will close, indeed by December 2017 there will a significant downturn in output as the generating capacity of some of the older generating stations is scheduled to come to an end.

Time passes slowly in the nuclear industry and the announcement of the sites is but the first step in the construction and commissioning of a nuclear power station.  There is the not insignificant challenge of tackling that other leviathan that is the planning process.  It is assumed that applications will come under the auspices of the Major Infrastructure Planning Unit, although how long this process will take is debatable.  With the huge numbers of interested parties involved the hoped for swift and efficient planning system may be stretched to the limit.