PM unveils plans to make it easier to build new nuclear reactors
The Prime Minister announced that more nuclear power plants will be approved across England and Wales as red tape will be "slashed"
The Government is pledging to create thousands of highly skilled jobs by reforming planning rules to make it easier to build new nuclear reactors.
The Prime Minister announced that more nuclear power plants will be approved across England and Wales as red tape will be "slashed".
The reforms will clear a path for so-called small modular reactors (SMRs) to be built for the first time in the UK which ministers said would help to deliver clean, secure and more affordable energy.
The Government announced that "archaic" rules will be ripped up while growth will be prioritised ahead of local opponents, or NIMBYs.
It comes after multiple attempts from campaigners and environmentalists to stop plans to build the Sizewell C power station on the Suffolk coast, with a spokesperson from Stop Sizewell C saying: "The words 'nuclear power' and 'rips up rules' do not belong in the same sentence.
"Given that not all the sites in the existing National Policy Statement are suitable for nuclear reactors, this further relaxation of planning rules is deeply concerning."
The UK has been left lagging behind in the global race for cleaner, more affordable energy after years of delay and obstruction, with the last nuclear power station built in 1995, said ministers.
Under moves announced today, mini-nuclear power stations will be included in planning rules for the first time and a set list of eight sites where they can only be built will be scrapped.
The expiry date on nuclear planning rules will be scrapped, and a Nuclear Regulatory Taskforce will be established.
Ministers said Britain is considered one of the world's most expensive countries in which to build nuclear power, so the taskforce will speed up the approval of new reactor designs and streamline how developers engage with regulators.
"We've been let down and left behind"
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said: "This country hasn't built a nuclear power station in decades. We've been let down and left behind.
"Our energy security has been hostage to Putin for too long, with British prices skyrocketing at his whims.
"I'm putting an end to it - changing the rules to back the builders of this nation, and saying no to the blockers who have strangled our chances of cheaper energy, growth and jobs for far too long."
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said: "Build, build, build - that is what Britain's clean energy mission is all about.
"The British people have been left vulnerable to global energy markets for too long - and the only way out is to build our way to a new era of clean electricity.
"Nuclear power creating thousands of skilled jobs. That is what this Government will deliver."
"New nuclear is critical to the growth and clean power mission"
Tom Greatrex, chief executive of the Nuclear Industry Association, said: "This is the Prime Minister's strongest signal yet that new nuclear is critical to the growth and clean power mission.
"A more streamlined planning system will give certainty to investors, the supply chain and communities, and will enable us to get on with building new nuclear plants on more sites and at pace for a cleaner, more secure power system.
"We need to make Britain the best possible place to build new nuclear, both large-scale and SMRs, which means avoiding unnecessary stumbling blocks and ensuring regulations are proportionate to our urgent need for low carbon power, energy security and good jobs."
Conservative shadow energy secretary Andrew Bowie said it was "about time that Labour started to follow our lead in recognising the benefits of stable, reliable, baseload nuclear power".
He added: "But it's little comfort when Ed Miliband's ideological approach to energy is sending bills through the roof, British jobs abroad, and denying billions of pounds of investment into Britain.
"He is caving in to the demands of Just Stop Oil by not supporting British industry with Rosebank and Jackdaw, and the man running his taxpayer-funded £8 billion vanity project refuses to say when it will deliver the new jobs Ed promised."
"Now we need to see spades in the ground without delay"
Gary Smith, GMB general secretary, said: "GMB has long said there can be no net zero without new nuclear.
"For too long, the failure to deliver new nuclear has weakened our energy security and undermined economic growth.
"Sizewell C stands ready and waiting for the green light to power up our country's future.
"Now we need to see spades in the ground without delay.
"It is also vital that the voices of workers and their communities in Sellafield, Wylfa, Hartlepool and beyond are at the heart of decisions on the future of these key national sites."
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