Last Energy has become the first company in nearly 50 years to submit a newly proposed site for a nuclear power plant to the UK’s licensing process.
Designed to generate power for 244,000 homes, Last Energy’s small modular reactor would be built where the coal-fired Llynfi Power Station once stood in South Wales.
This would make it the first new site for a commercial reactor to begin licensing in the UK for nearly half a century, with all projects since 1978 having been built on existing locations.
The government had unveiled plans earlier this month to relax planning rules for new nuclear projects, opening the door for plants to be built “anywhere” in England and Wales.
Small modular reactors, which have long been floated as a cheaper alternative to conventional plants, were also set to be included in planning rules under the move.
“This is another critical milestone necessary to unlock nuclear power at scale in the UK,” Last Energy UK boss Michael Jenner said.
Just one nuclear project, Hinkley Point C, is under construction in the UK following years of growing costs and delay, with another planned at Sizewell.
Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC is among a string of firms planning to roll out mini reactors, which have also been slated as quicker-to-build than their larger counterparts.