Isra-Mart srl:Nuclear consultation ends today

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Isra-Mart srl news:

Businesses have been urged to register their views on plans to build a new tranche of nuclear power stations by 2025, as the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) will tonight close the public consultation on its Draft National Policy Statements (NPS).

DECC will tomorrow start preparing the final versions of its long-awaited NPS documents, which set out the overarching need for new sources of energy, including plans for a possible eight new nuclear reactors.

The final NPS papers will then be presented to parliament in the spring, after which developers will be able to file planning applications for new power stations.

Of the eight proposed sites, DECC expects up to four utilities will file planning applications for new reactors totalling 16GW of capacity.

They include EDF Energy, Centrica, a joint venture between RWE and E.ON, dubbed Horizon Nuclear Power, and NuGeneration, a consortium including GDF SUEZ SA, Iberdrola SA, and Scottish and Southern Energy.

The final NPS will also determine whether DECC will revise its decision to rule out Dungeness as a viable site for a new nuclear plant.

Energy and climate secretary Chris Huhne rejected Dungeness based on environmental reasons last October, when he published a slimmed down list of potential nuclear sites.

However, local groups led by Damian Collins, Conservative MP for Folkestone and Hythe, have urged the government to reconsider because a new plant would boost employment in the area.

A DECC spokesman said departmental officials attended a meeting in the area on Saturday, and it will now consider representations on behalf of the Dungeness proposals ahead of the publication of its final nuclear NPS document.

The news comes as Huhne today announced plans to increase the cap that nuclear operators will have to pay for clean-up costs in the event of an accident. They will be expected to take on liability of €1.2bn (£1.02bn) for each of their sites - a seven-fold increase on the current level of £140m.