Planning rules will be ripped up to make it easier to build new nuclear reactors and create thousands of highly skilled jobs, the government has announced.
The reforms are the latest in a series of proposals designed to “get Britain building” to help grow the economy, after powers for environmental quangos to delay infrastructure projects were removed.
The UK was the first country in the world to develop a nuclear reactor but the last time a power station was built was in 1995.
Ministers have blamed this on “suffocating” red tape, leaving the UK lagging behind in the global race for cleaner more affordable energy.
Under moves announced today, mini-nuclear power stations known as small modular reactors (SMRs) will be included in the national planning guidance, allowing them to be built in the UK for the first time.
SMRs are considered to be cheaper, quicker to manufacture and safer than conventional nuclear power plants, so industry experts see them as having an important role in efforts to decarbonise.
Other reforms include:
• Scrapping a list which currently limits nuclear development to eight specific sites
• Removing the expiry date on nuclear planning rules so projects don’t get timed out
• Establishing a new Nuclear Regulatory Taskforce to look at further ways to build nuclear plants quicker and cheaper, which will report directly to the prime minister
Unions and business groups have welcomed the announcement, but environmentalists were critical.
The changes come amid long-term struggles to get two existing nuclear projects over the line.
Only one nuclear power plant, Hinkley Point C in Somerset, is under construction in the UK – but its completion date has been delayed by years with the French company developing it blaming this on inflation, labour shortages and Brexit disruption.
The government also pointed to the need for a 30,000-page environmental assessment required to get planning permission, saying in its announcement today…
