Hinkley Point C to blaze trail for nuclear development in Britain: official

Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant is only the first in a series of proposed new nuclear projects in the pipeline and will blaze a trail for further nuclear development in Britain, British official Andrea Leadsom said on Wednesday.

Addressing the eighth Nuclear New Build Forum in London, Leadsom, minister of state at Department of Energy and Climate Change, spoke of the progress being made so Hinkley Point C can provide clean, affordable and secure energy.

She said EDF and the French government have said that EDF is working towards a Final Investment Decision "in the near future with the full support of the French government."

Hinkley Point C, Leadsom added, is expected to be up and running in 2025 to meet 7 percent of Britain's electricity needs.

"That is enough to power six million homes -- twice as many as the whole of London," she said.

"But Hinkley C is only the first in a series of proposed new nuclear projects in the pipeline. It will blaze a trail for further nuclear development. Industry has set out proposals to develop 18 gigawatts of new nuclear power in the UK at six sites -- Hinkley Point, Sizewell, Bradwell, Moorside, Wylfa and Oldbury," the official said.

"This pipeline could deliver around a third of the electricity we will need in the 2030s; reduce our carbon emissions by more than 40 million tonnes; bring an estimated 80 billion pounds (115 billion U.S. dollars)of investment into the UK and employ up to 30,000 people across the new nuclear supply chain," she added.

In the speech, Leadsom told an audience of industry experts: "We face a number of very important challenges in the energy sector over the coming years - not just dealing with decades of under investment, but also meeting our energy trilemma of keeping the lights on, keeping the bills down and all whilst addressing our world leading decarbonisation targets. Your industry has a huge part to play in each of our objectives."

"I welcome questions about our new build program because it gives me an opportunity to restate why we believe new nuclear is so important for the UK; it gives us the chance to explain that Hinkley Point C is a very good deal for the people of Britain," said Leadsom.

Existing nuclear plants currently meet around 16 percent of Britain's electricity needs. Without new ones, the share of generation from nuclear could dip to 3 percent in 2030, Leadsom warned.

The British government, Leadsom said, is investing in an ambitious nuclear R&D program intended to revive the country's nuclear expertise and position Britain as a global leader in innovative nuclear technologies.

The Nuclear Innovation and Research Advisory Board has developed a proposed program focused on five key themes.

It includes developing 21st Century manufacturing to build advanced equipment of the future as well as the fourth generation reactors of the future through Advanced Reactor Design. Endit