Sizewell C gets nearly $20B in big day for U.K. nuclear energy
It’s a move that “brings to an end decades of dithering and delay, with the government backing the builders.” That’s how the U.K. government announced, with alliterative fanfare, its £14.2 billion (about $19.2 billion) investment in Sizewell C, where EDF Energy plans to build two 1,600-MWe EPRs.
The construction project is expected to create 10,000 jobs, including 1,500 apprenticeships, and support thousands more jobs across the U.K., with 70 percent of supply chain contracts going to U.K. companies.
The announcement came June 10, the same day the U.K. government announced it had selected British firm Rolls-Royce SMR as its preferred bidder for the country’s first three small modular reactor units. Together with fusion energy R&D investments worth £2.5 billion over five years, and separate investments in the nation’s naval nuclear defense enterprise and infrastructure, the announcement heralds “the biggest nuclear building program in a generation.”
Breaking with the status quo: The U.K. opened the world’s first commercial nuclear power station—Calder Hall—in 1956, but it now operates only nine power reactors, all but two of which are nearing the end of their operating lives.
“We will not accept the status quo of failing to invest in the future and energy insecurity for our country,” said Energy Secretary Ed Miliband. “We need new nuclear to deliver a golden age of clean energy abundance, because that is the only way to protect family finances, take back control of our energy, and tackle the climate crisis. This is the government’s clean energy mission in action—investing in lower bills and good jobs for energy security.”
In January 2024, the U.K. released a road map for plans to quadruple nuclear power to 24 gigawatts by 2050.
EPRs online and under construction: Two French-designed EPRs have been under construction since 2016 at the two-unit Hinkley Point C station. Other EPRs have entered commercial operation in the meantime, at China’s Taishan (in 2018 and 2019) and Finland’s Okliluoto-3 (in 2023). Construction began on France’s own EPR at Flamanville-3 in 2007, and the unit is expected to enter commercial operation later this year.
Sizewell C would be a near-copy of the two-unit Hinkley Point C station, consisting of twin 1,600-MWe EPRs built next to Sizewell B, a 1,198-MWe pressurized water reactor.
Sizewell C was one of eight sites identified in 2009 for new nuclear development when Miliband had previously served as energy secretary, according to the U.K. government. EDF submitted a site license application to the U.K. Office for Nuclear Regulation in June 2020. In December 2022, the British government announced an investment of £679 million in the project, making it a 50 percent shareholder with EDF in Sizewell C.
The word from Sizewell C: A press release from the Sizewell C organization issued June 10 welcomed the new funding.
“Today marks the start of an exciting new chapter for Sizewell C, the U.K.’s first British-owned nuclear power plant in over 30 years,” Sizewell C’s joint-managing directors, Julia Pyke and Nigel Cann. “It’s a privilege to be leading a project that will create over 10,000 jobs, secure Britain’s energy future and revitalize the U.K.’s nuclear industry.”
According to the press release, the project is the first nuclear power station in the U.K. to be funded through a regulated asset base model. Under the model, “consumers are protected through independent regulation, strict cost controls, and transparent oversight—ensuring families benefit from secure, low-carbon energy without bearing the risk of cost overruns.”
