Third runner enters UK nuclear race

A third potential new nuclear operator bought its way into the UK market today when a consortium of European energy firms secured an option to purchase a new site at Sellafield in a deal potentially worth £70m.

The consortium comprising French engineering giant GDF Suez, Spanish energy firm Iberdrola, and Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) said it plans to build a new nuclear power plant with 3.6GW of capacity at the site.

Any new development will now be subject to regulatory and planning approval, but the group said it hoped to begin work on the development in 2015.

The deal, which was handled by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), follows the sale earlier this year of an NDA site at Bradwell to EDF and sites at Wylfa and Oldbury to a consortium involving RWE and E.ON.

The government said that with EDF planning to build 6.4GW of new nuclear capacity and the RWE/E.ON consortium planning a further 6GW, the new plans take to 16GW the amount of new nuclear capacity that could be added over the next 10 to 15 years – enough to power every home in the UK.

Energy and climate change secretary Ed Miliband hailed the news as evidence that the government's plans for a "nuclear renaissance" are moving towards fruition.

"These latest plans, together with the ambition of existing plans from two other operators, mean that new nuclear could power the equivalent of all 26 million homes in the UK," he said. "This sale is further proof that we’re giving industry the confidence to invest and that the UK is creating a successful low carbon economy."

The government is currently seeking to accelerate the roll out of new nuclear power plants and is expected to publish its long-awaited National Policy Statements on nuclear energy setting out the regulatory framework for the new developments next month.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change is also reportedly considering the introduction of either a levy on energy bills, a carbon tax, or a floor price on emission allowances in the European emissions trading scheme to help strengthen the economic case for developing nuclear power plants.