Government plans huge Sizewell C-scale nuclear expansion

It is setting out what it describes as "the biggest expansion of nuclear power for 70 years" in its Civil Nuclear Roadmap today - with a new power station as big as Sizewell C or Hinkley C and small modular reactors among the ambitions.

The aim is to quadruple nuclear power output in the UK by 2050 - taking it to 24 gigawatts (GW) or a quarter of the UK's electricity needs.

It aims to "explore" the big new gigawatt power station like the two next-generation nuclear plants - capable of powering 6m homes a piece - which are at different stages of development.

It also says it will also invest up to £300m in UK production of the fuel required to power hi-tech new nuclear reactors, known as HALEU - which are currently only commercially produced in Russia.

Ministers are planning a nuclear energy "hackathon" to come up with ideas on how to accelerate new nuclear projects.

The announcement comes in the wake of a period of severe energy insecurity which followed the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a means of bolstering the UK's energy independence, it said.

Prime minister Rishi Sunak said nuclear energy was "green, cheaper in the long term and will ensure the UK’s energy security for the long-term".

Energy secretary Claire Coutinho said it would help "power Britain from Britain".

Nuclear Industry Association and trade union Prospect welcomed the roadmap. 

But anti-nuclear campaigner Alison Downes of the Stop Sizewell C campaign described the plans as "vague" and said they rang hollow "when Hinkley Point C is already at least three years late and £8bn overspent and faces a significant funding gap and Sizewell C is still some way off a Final Investment Decision".

"Neither Sizewell C nor anything else in this Roadmap will help the government meet its target of decarbonising the electricity system by 2035, making nuclear an expensive distraction that we'll all have to pay for during projects' protracted construction," she added.