Latest news from Sizewell C

No. Sizewell C will start making a substantial contribution to net zero emissions from the moment it starts generating in the early 2030s. It will be pushing fossil fuels off the electricity grid and avoiding around 9 million tonnes of carbon emissions each year.

Sizewell C will not only help to decarbonise the electricity mix, but it will also help to lower emissions in other sectors, like transport and heating.

EPRs – originally known as European Pressurised Water Reactors – are a type of Pressurised Water Reactor (PWR).

The UK EPR design being used for Sizewell C is the same as at Hinkley Point C in Somerset. Making a copy means we can lower construction and financing costs.

The EPR is a good choice for Sizewell C. It is a proven technology which is already operating at Taishan in China.

It is a major evolution of previous PWR designs and means Sizewell C and Hinkley Point C will be among the safest and most efficient nuclear plants ever built.

The UK EPR meets the most stringent safety and environmental standards. It will use less uranium and produce almost a third less long-lived radioactive waste compared to other water reactors in operation today.

As part of the Generic Design Assessment (GDA), the UK EPR design underwent years of evaluation by the Office for Nuclear Regulation and Environment Agency.

850,000 hours of engineering studies were undertaken as part of the rigorous four-year design approval process.

In October 2021, the Government introduced legislation to allow new nuclear projects to be financed using the so-called RAB (Regulated Asset Base) model.

RAB is a funding arrangement for large infrastructure projects which reduces costs for consumers.

It’s a tried and tested method which has already been used to finance around £180bn of UK infrastructure.

By attracting a pool of investors and allowing them to share some project risks with consumers, the RAB model helps to reduce financing costs. Lowering the cost of finance has a much bigger impact on what consumers pay than construction costs.

Government says that overall consumers are expected to save more than £30bn over the projects lifetime on each new large-scale nuclear power station compared with existing funding mechanisms.

We are taking a wide range of measures to minimise the impact of construction on local communities. We made eleven pledges to the local community when we applied for a DCO in May 2020 and have taken measures to honour these.

In the Deed of Obligation signed with Suffolk County Council and East Suffolk Council in October 2021, we agreed a £250m package to mitigate the effects of construction. It also provides funds to enhance the local environment and to support local employment and skills initiatives.

An additional £400 million will be spent on physical developments to avoid, limit, mitigate or compensate for the impacts of construction. This includes £175 million for road infrastructure, rail improvements, a permanent beach landing facility and additional ecology work around the Associated Development sites. These will all provide a long-term benefit to East Suffolk.

Measures we are taking to reduce the impact of construction include:

• Up to 60% of construction materials will be transported to site by rail and sea, significantly reducing the number of HGVs on local roads.
• Park and ride sites will allow commuters to use buses and will minimise traffic on local roads.
• A freight management facility will allow us to carefully schedule deliveries to and from the construction site.
• Bypass roads and a rail extension will be built to meet increased demand from the project.
• Sizewell C will remove any unnecessary infrastructure following construction, restoring the land in the process, whilst leaving all useful road and rail enhancements in place.
• Measures to reduce noise include screening, use of quieter working methods and a noise mitigation scheme for properties significantly impacted.
• A Tourism Fund has been established to ensure any potential effect on local tourism does not have economic consequences. There is little evidence to suggest that Sizewell C will have an impact on tourism in the surrounding area.
• We are exploring the use of alternative fuels (such as hydrogen and electricity) for buses, HGVs, and other construction equipment that will be used on the site.
• Lighting will be managed to limit light spill on the surrounding environment, reducing the impact on local species.
• Dust management plans will be implemented to control and minimise dust emissions.