Wylfa needed for UK to hit nuclear targets, MPs warn

It is “difficult to see” how the UK government can deliver its nuclear power ambitions without a plant at Wylfa in north Wales, MPs have warned.

The House of Commons Welsh Affairs Committee urges UK ministers to prioritise the construction of a new nuclear scale plant on Ynys Mon, in a new report on the nuclear energy in Wales, published today (3 May).

The island, also known as Anglesey, was the site of a twin reactor Magnox plant from 1971 to 2015 when generation shut down.

Hitachi led plans to build a replacement nuclear station on the island, which the company abandoned in 2019 after it failed to secure a financing agreement with the British government.

The committee says in its report that this previous attempt to bring a new nuclear project to Wylfa has left scars on the local community.

And it raises concerns that expectations are being raised again on Ynys Mon and question how long the current uncertainty can continue about whether or not new nuclear will be delivered at Wylfa, particularly given that Hitachi still owns the mooted site of the proposed power station.

The committee says this issue of land ownership must be addressed, reiterating a call in a previous report for the UK government to encourage Hitachi to sell Wylfa Newydd site or join a consortium to develop the site.

The MPs conclude that it is difficult to see how the UK government can deliver its stated ambition to deliver 24GW of new nuclear power by 2050 without taking forward the Wylfa project, which it describes as one of the best sites for such development in Britain.

They say Wylfa should be the location of the next gigawatt-scale nuclear generation plant after Sizewell C, where EDF has recently secured planning permission.

While welcoming “small steps in the right direction” on the site, new nuclear at Wylfa is not certain and more concrete commitment is required to deliver the project, the committee adds.

The introduction of the Regulated Asset Base (RAB) model of funding for nuclear energy projects, which cuts infrastructure developers’ borrowing costs by enabling them to receive payments while their project is being built, is welcomed by the committee.

However it says that there are still significant financing challenges associated with nuclear infrastructure.

The report calls for the government to publish a medium to long-term programme setting out how it will achieve its 24GW ambitions, including clear statements of its intentions for Wylfa and nearby Trawsfynydd, which should be included in the new Nuclear National Policy Statement as a potential site for small modular reactors.

It also recommends that Great British Nuclear (GBN), the new agency given the greenlight in March’s Budget to spearhead the sector’s development in the UK, is given a mandate to plan and deliver a programme for generating sites in order to provide “much needed clarity” to the industry.

And the committee calls for the government to explain the role that GBN could play in resolving the lack, other than EDF, of a utility nuclear developer in the UK, which it describes as “one of the significant missing parts of the future of nuclear development” in the country.

The committee’s chair, Stephen Crabb MP, said: “Over the last couple of decades Wylfa has been in a state of limbo. Local people have been enthusiastic about the potential investment to the area only to have been left disappointed when Hitachi pulled out of the Wylfa Newydd project.

“We cannot allow the same to happen again. Despite the positive policy changes and stronger rhetoric from ministers about nuclear, a new power station at Wylfa is still far from certain. Important obstacles remain on financing which is limiting private sector investment, and on the issue of land ownership which is preventing a new developer coming in. We must see concrete action on addressing these issues before the next general election, otherwise the uncertainty about the project will increase.”