Great Britain chooses location in Wales for new nuclear power plant

LONDON – Britain said Wednesday it wants to build a new large-scale nuclear power plant in north Wales, naming a site on the island of Anglesey as the preferred location and starting 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 to 24 gigawatts by 2050, equivalent to around a quarter of expected electricity demand, from around 14% currently.

The Wylfa coastal area on the Isle of Anglesey was used for nuclear power generation between 1971 and 2015. That plant is currently being dismantled.

The new plant at the site could generate enough power to power six million homes for 60 years, and would be comparable in scale to the current projects at Hinkley and Sizewell in England, the government said in a statement.

In 2020, Japan’s Hitachi scrapped plans to build a nuclear power plant in Wylfa after failing to find private investors or secure sufficient government support.

The government did not name which companies would be involved in the discussions on developing the new project.

Earlier in May, the Financial Times reported that South Korea’s Korea Electric Power Corp (KEPCO) was in talks with the government to build a factory in Wylfa. — Reuters