A proposed new nuclear power plant in north Wales could cost as much as £17 billion but would be quicker and cheaper to build than EDF’s Hinkley Point C in Somerset, according to the American consortium behind the project.
Westinghouse, the reactor maker, and Bechtel, the engineering group, hope to win government support and potential taxpayer investment for their plan to build two reactors at Wylfa on Anglesey.
They are understood to have shared initial estimates with the government that it could cost between £14 billion and £17 billion to build the 2.3-gigawatt plant, which could power more than four million homes. They say that it could take little more than six years to build, compared with more than a decade for Hinkley Point C.
However, the project faces significant hurdles before construction can begin, meaning that it is unlikely to be able to start up until the early 2030s. The consortium needs to find a company to lead the development and to attract investors, as well as to complete lengthy planning and regulatory processes. It also must secure rights to the Wylfa site, which at present is owned by Hitachi, of Japan, which abandoned its own plans for a facility there in early 2019.
The government has placed new nuclear plants at the heart of its energy strategy after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It wants up to 24GW of nuclear capacity by 2050, equivalent to six more new plants the size of Hinkley Point and in addition to the Somerset plant, which is the only one under construction.
EDF, the French energy group, said last week that the 3.2GW Hinkley Point project would now cost as much as £26 billion, up from £18 billion when it was approved in 2016, and would not generate its first power until June 2027, at the earliest. EDF also wants to build the same EPR, or European pressurised reactors, at Sizewell C in Suffolk, which it has suggested will cost £20 billion.
Westinghouse wants to build its rival AP1000 reactor design, which has completed initial safety approval for use in Britain. Mike Waite, director of new plant market development at Westinghouse, said: “Compared with the EPR technology used by EDF, the AP1000 plant is significantly simplified in its design due to its advanced passive safety systems and hence will have a lower construction cost.” He said the reactor used “natural forces instead of pumps, motors and back-up diesel generators”, allowing for “a huge reduction in safety-related equipment, while increasing levels of safety”.
However, if the project were to cost £17 billion, the top end of the cost range that the companies shared with ministers last year, it would be only marginally cheaper per gigawatt than Hinkley Point, while at the lower end of the range it would be comparable to estimates for Sizewell.
Westinghouse and Bechtel are hoping to secure about £20 million funding from the government’s Future Nuclear Enabling Fund to conduct further engineering and design work. Ivan Baldwin, head of the UK civil nuclear market for Bechtel, said that this would enable the developer to “provide to the government an estimated project cost” and “to determine the optimum construction schedule at the site”. However, he said it was “likely to take around six years from first nuclear concrete to fuel load”. The first power generation would be expected to follow some months later.
Westinghouse’s AP1000 reactor originally was destined to be built in Cumbria by Toshiba, the former owner of Westinghouse, but huge delays and cost overruns building the same reactors at Vogtle in Georgia in the southern United States led to Westinghouse filing for bankruptcy in 2017 and to Toshiba abandoning the Cumbrian project. Westinghouse has since been acquired by Brookfield, a Canadian investor, while Bechtel was brought in as a contractor to complete the American project. It has cost more than twice its original budget and is about seven years behind schedule.
Waite insisted the AP1000 was “now a very mature, proven design” and that crucial suppliers were “now experienced and qualified”. “The Westinghouse-Bechtel delivery team can bring significant experience from the Vogtle project, from the operating plants in China and from the development projects across Europe,” he said.
The groups need to find a developer to lead the project and to bring in investors and are eyeing the government’s new Great British Nuclear Vehicle, which is expected to invest in EDF’s Sizewell project, as a potential solution for both.
It is understood that the companies had told ministers last year that the plant could be delivered by 2034. Baldwin said: “Since then, government priorities for nuclear have grown significantly and become increasingly urgent.” He said there were “potential opportunities to streamline pre-final investment decision activity” so as to “accelerate project delivery”.