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UK and Europe relax rules on nuclear, gas

Published: 13:36 08 Jul 2022 BST

Nuclear reactor at Sizewell in Suffolk

New legislation being rolled out across the UK and Europe will relax rules on nuclear and gas power stations and add further support to meet the ongoing energy crisis.  

The UK Department of Energy and Industrial Strategy unveiled today that carbon capture and storage technologies, which can make existing plants less polluting, will benefit from £54mln of government funding. 

On Wednesday, the British government introduced the Energy Security Bill to Parliament, including a package of measures to shore up future energy supplies by supporting nuclear, carbon capture, heat pumps and offshore wind. 

Business and Energy Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said £100bn of private investment will be leveraged in British industries to avoid the country being “held hostage by rogue states and volatile markets”.  

His words were echoed by France’s incoming prime minister Élisabeth Borne that day, who announced moves to nationalise debt-ridden utility Électricité de France S.A. (EPA: EDF). 

British MP Paul Scully said yesterday that a decision on whether to approve the French electricity company’s Sizewell C nuclear reactors in Suffolk has been postponed until 20 July. Two new reactors would add to an existing plant at the Sizewell site.  

Members of the European Parliament meanwhile adopted controversial measures to count nuclear and gas as “environmentally sustainable” activities, reneging on an earlier objection to the European Commission’s proposals. 

A total of 278 European ministers voted in favour of the resolution, parliament said on Wednesday, short of the 353 votes needed to block the proposal. In the absence of further objections, the new classification will enter force next January. 

The UK energy security bill will similarly give the green light to nuclear power projects, in tandem with the Nuclear Energy Act that received Royal assent earlier this year.  

The two pieces of legislation will bring forward the “re-use of nuclear sites” as well as facilitate carbon capture at project sites, the government said.  

Britain’s government will reserve the right to take a ‘special share’ in all future nuclear projects, it added, as a condition for financial support through the new funding mechanism.  

A heating project that would be integral to the Sizewell C reactors was approved for funding under the government’s carbon capture programme. 

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