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(Bloomberg) — The UK approved Wylfa in North Wales as the site for the country’s first small modular reactors, the next step in reviving its struggling nuclear power sector.
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The £2.5 billion ($3.3 billion) project, designed by Rolls-Royce SMR Ltd., will be built on the coast of Anglesey by Great British Energy-Nuclear, the UK government’s atomic delivery body, according to a statement Thursday from the Department for Energy & Net Zero.
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So-called SMRs are seen by industry and the government as a way to generate clean nuclear power at a fraction of the cost and time required to build large-scale plants. There are no major SMR projects operating yet in the US or Europe, but there is growing excitement over the potential to harness the technology to power the AI boom.
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While new UK nuclear capacity won’t be online by 2030 — the government’s deadline for reaching a clean power system — it will be an important part of reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Power from nuclear reactors can provide a backup when wind and solar output dwindles.
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The first SMRs will provide power for about 3 million homes, according to the government statement.
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The Wylfa site has the benefit of an established grid infrastructure after previously being home to an old nuclear plant. A Gloucestershire site owned by Great British Energy-Nuclear has a similar advantage and could be a candidate for development, the company said.
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Despite the critical role of nuclear power in Britain’s plans to cut its reliance on fossil fuels, Hinkley Point C, a large-scale nuclear plant under construction in the UK, has been repeatedly delayed. Its budget has also soared to more than £40 billion due to Brexit-related snarls, construction struggles, the Covid pandemic and an inflation surge.
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Most of Britain’s existing nuclear reactors were due to shut by the mid-2010s, yet extensions have pushed final closures into the late 2020s and early 2030s.
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By that point, plants such as Heysham and Hartlepool will finally close, leaving only Sizewell B operating until 2035. That means without new capacity like Hinkley Point C or the proposed Sizewell C, Britain faces a sharp drop in nuclear generation early next decade.
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