The UK government has unveiled plans to overhaul “archaic” planning rules in a bid to force through mini nuclear reactor projects.
Having last completed a nuclear plant in 1995, the new Labour administration warned in a statement that the UK had fallen behind in the global race “to harness cleaner, more affordable energy”.
Reforms to include small modular reactors (SMRs) in planning rules, scrap the set list of sites where they could be built and remove time limits on nuclear projects were unveiled.
This would make it easier to build new nuclear, according to the government, allowing sites to be placed “anywhere” across England and Wales.
Just one nuclear project, Hinkley Point C, is under construction in the UK, with another planned at Sizewell and promises long been made for a string of mini reactors.
Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC (LSE:RR.) is among those developing such SMRs, which have been floated as a cheaper and quicker-to-build alternative to conventional plants.
“The industry pioneered in Britain has been suffocated by regulations and this saw investment collapse,” the government added.
“Developers will be encouraged to bring forward sites as soon as possible at the pre-application stage in the planning process, speeding up overall timelines.
“It will include new nuclear technologies such as small and advanced modular reactors for the first time, providing flexibility to co-locate them with energy-intensive industrial sites such as AI data centres.”
Industry body Energy UK welcomed the proposed reforms, flagging they could "help to provide greater investor certainty" alongside boosting jobs.
Criticism also arose though, with campaign group Stop Sizewell C dubbing the plan to "rip up" existing rules "deeply concerning".
"You only have to look at Hinkley Point C (now £46 billion in 2023 money and five years late) and EPR builds in France and Finland to realise that these projects can generate massive delays and overspends all by themselves."