The Nuclear Industry Association (NIA) welcomes the chance to respond to the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero’s ‘Approach to siting new nuclear power stations beyond 2025’ consultation.
The NIA is the trade association and representative body for the civil nuclear industry in the UK. We represent around 250 companies operating across all aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle.
Due to the diversity of our membership, our views in this submission will cover high-level, industry-wide matters. Our members may choose to make their own detailed submissions.
Executive Summary
The NIA welcomes positive intent in the ‘Approach to siting new nuclear power stations beyond 2025’ consultation and the recognition of the importance of nuclear to the energy sector.
- Nuclear is essential to the UK’s future energy technology mix as the only single technology that can provide clean, firm, and sovereign electricity, as well as providing a source of clean heat at scale.
- Nuclear currently supplies around 15% of our electricity from just over half a square mile of land, and according to United Nations’ analysis, nuclear has the lowest lifecycle carbon, lowest land use, and lowest impact on ecosystems of any electricity source.
- The civil nuclear sector has a long history of delivering innovation and investment, creating high skilled jobs, and providing low carbon power across the UK.
We strongly support the Government’s proposal to empower developers to identify and nominate potential sites for nuclear development that meet specified criteria and to move away from a prescribed list of designated sites alone.
We would strongly recommend the Government to give EN-6 designated sites special recognition in the forthcoming National Policy Statement and enact policy mechanisms to safeguard their use for nuclear development in the interim.
Please click here to view our full response.
