Sizewell A and Sizewell B, two nuclear power stations located on England's east coast | Credit: iStock
Move comes alongside reports EDF is looking to extend operation of two UK nuclear power plants until 2026 in response to energy security concerns
The government is poised to tweak its definition of 'green' investment in order to include nuclear power, as part of its drive to attract more private investment to bolster Britain's low carbon energy security, according to reports.
Ministers are gearing up to launch a consultation on changes to the government's taxonomy rules - which classify what constitutes a 'green' investment - in order to redefine nuclear power projects as environmentally sustainable, The Financial Times reported this morning.
Such a move would reverse a previous decision by the Treasury less than two years ago to exclude nuclear power projects from its green taxonomy, and is likely to draw an angry response from some environmental campaigners.
However, it would bring the UK into line with a similar decision by the EU Commission last year to define both nuclear and some gas power projects as ‘green' within its investment taxonomy.
The news comes as the government prepares to launch its new Great British Nuclear agency, backed by around £80m in seed funding, with the new body tasked with overseeing its vision to build a fleet of new nuclear power stations across the UK.
The government is targeting 24GW of nuclear power generation capacity by 2050 in order to support its drive towards net zero emissions, but the UK has long struggled to get new nuclear projects off the ground.
At present the UK boasts just under 6GW of nuclear power capacity, but four our of five of the plants currently in operation are set to close before the end of the decade, while new projects such as Hinkley Point C in Somerset and Sizewell C in Suffolk remain years away from completion.
New nuclear power projects in the UK have struggled to muster requisite investment amid concerns over delays, cost-overruns, and the high costs of meeting stringent safety regulations. But Russia's war in Ukraine has served to refocus attention on the importance of domestic energy sources that do not rely on expensive, risky, and volatile fossil fuel imports.
Against that backdrop, French energy giant EDF is reportedly looking to extend the lifetime of two of its five nuclear power plants in the UK by a further two years each in order to reduce the risk of energy supply shortages later this decade, according to Reuters.
The newspaper reported this morning that EDF plans to keep both its Heysham 1 facility in Lancashire as well as its Hartlepool plant in Teesside running for two years longer than previously planned. Both plants had been due to close next year after decades in service.
