Ir Keir Starmer has pledged to “build a baby build” as he announced plans to facilitate the construction of mini nuclear power plants in the UK and Wales.
The Prime Minister told the BBC that the government would “take blockers” and change planning rules to allow new reactors to be built in more parts of the country.
Sir Kiel said he hoped the country would return to being “one of the world leaders of nuclear power,” creating thousands of highly skilled jobs and boosting economic growth.
Unions and business groups welcomed the move, but environmentalists criticized the government, saying it “extracted the entire nuclear industry spin.”
In the 1990s, nuclear power generated around 25% of UK electricity, but that figure fell to about 15%, and no new power plants have been built since then and are expected to be discontinued over the next decade. Many of the aging reactors in a country were built.
Mini nuclear power plants – or small modular reactors (SMRs) – are smaller, cheaper and produce much less electricity than traditional nuclear power plants.
However, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency, there are around 80 different designs worldwide during development, but this concept has not yet been commercially proven.
The plan announced Thursday marks SMR first as part of the planning rules. The only list of locations where you can build a nuclear reactor (comprising only eight sites) will also be discarded.
Construction of UK nuclear power plants could be slower now. It can take nearly 20 years to get from planning to “power-on.”
On a visit to the UK National Nuclear Research Institute in Lancashire, Ir Keel admitted it would take too long to build a nuclear power plant at this time, but said changes announced by the government would speed up the process. .
Asked by BBC’s Chris Mason if “Build Baby Build” is his mantra like President Donald Trump’s “Drill Baby Drill,” Ir Keel said: Can be constructed. ”
The prime minister said that while this is not part of the announcement, the government has already hosted the energy infrastructure community, which already hosts energy infrastructure. He said he supported the idea of profit.
Ir Kiel said the plan would improve the country’s energy security by increasing the supply of clean, homemade power.
He added that Britain had been “hostages” by Russian President Vladimir Putin for “too long.”
The process of consulting in January 2024 and choosing to loosen rules regarding where nuclear reactors can be constructed under the conservative government of Rishi Sunak.
The Minister considers the UK to be one of the world’s most expensive countries to build nuclear power, and new nuclear regulatory tasks that speed up approvals for new reactor designs and let developers know how to engage with regulators. He said the Force would be established.
Conservative shadow energy secretary Andrew Bowie said the “time” workers followed his party’s lead in recognizing the benefits of “stable, reliable, baseload nuclear power.”
However, Greenpeace UK policy director Doug Parr argued that the government was not being applied “as a pinch enough to seek critical scrutiny and sprinkle with evidence.”
“The labour government has engulfed the entire nuclear industry,” he said.
The overall cost of nuclear power is comparable to other forms of energy, but nuclear power plants are extremely expensive to build.
Tom Gretrex, head of the Nuclear Industry Association, said the changes will ensure investors will be sure to ensure they will continue to build new plants.
GMB General Secretary Gary Smith said the union repeatedly said “there is no net zero without new nuclear power.”
The previous conservative government acquired a new reactor for the Suffolk Coast’s new reactor – sizewell C- in 2022.
The new Labour Government committed an additional £2.7 billion to the project in October, but the final decision on its future is not expected to come until the spending review later this year.
Two new reactors are also being built at Hinckley Point C in Somerset. It is scheduled to open in 2030.
