LONDON – Britain said on Wednesday it wanted to build a new large-scale nuclear power station in north Wales, naming a site on the island of Anglesey as its preferred location and launching talks with international energy companies about building the plant.
As part of efforts to meet climate targets and boost energy security, Britain is seeking to increase its nuclear power capacity by 2050 to 24 gigawatts, equivalent to about a quarter of projected electricity demand, from about 14% currently.
The Wylfa coastal site on the island of Anglesey was used for nuclear power generation between 1971 and 2015. That plant is currently being decommissioned.
The new plant at the site could generate enough power for six million homes for 60 years, and would be similar in scale to projects underway at Hinkley and Sizewell in England, the government said in a statement.
In 2020 Japan’s Hitachi scrapped plans to build a nuclear plant at Wylfa after failing to find private investors or secure sufficient government support.
The government did not name the firms that would be involved in discussions to develop the new project.
Earlier in May, the Financial Times reported South Korea’s Korea Electric Power Corp (KEPCO) was in talks with the government to build a plant at Wylfa. — Reuters