The UK’s Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) has granted a nuclear site licence for the construction and operation of the Sizewell C nuclear power plant located in Suffolk, England (United Kingdom). Sizewell C will comprise 2 reactors, generating a total of 3.2 GW of electricity, equivalent to 7% of the UK’s electricity needs.
The £20bn (€23bn) project, which secured consent in July 2022 and environmental permits in March 2023, is developed by EDF Energy (50%), with the UK government holding the remaining 50% (after EDF's Chinese partner China General Nuclear was barred over security concerns). In January 2024, the UK’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero announced that it would invest a further GBP1.3bn (€1.5bn) of government funding for necessary infrastructure work at Sizewell C. A final investment decision for the project from EDF Energy is expected during the course of 2024.
In January 2024 also, the UK Government unveiled a roadmap to increase nuclear generating capacity fourfold in the country, attaining 24 GW of nuclear capacity by 2050, which would represent about 25% of the country's projected electricity demand. In 2023, nuclear (3.9 GW) represented about 14% of the UK power mix.
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