Sizewell C nuclear power plant is ‘certainly on the agenda’, says Johnson

Boris Johnson has said Sizewell C nuclear power station is “certainly on the agenda” and will be partly paid for by international investors.

Speaking to BBC Radio Suffolk, the Prime Minister said: “We want Sizewell C and we’ll be bringing forward plans as fast as possible”.

The large-scale Suffolk station is part of a fleet of new nuclear power plants at the heart of the Government’s energy strategy, in which Mr Johnson last month set out aims to boost new nuclear power, offshore wind and hydrogen.

Asked whether Sizewell will be built amid criticism that the process is too slow, Mr Johnson said: “Sizewell C is certainly on the agenda.

“We’re going to build a nuclear reactor every year rather than once every decade.

“We will have to pay for it partly out of public funds, but we’re also going to find investors.

“I’ve been talking to people in the Gulf, in India, around the world, they see the UK as a massive long-term bet and a brilliant bet”.

He added: “They want to make investments in things that will have a long-term return and where they know the Government is solidly behind it”.

Mr Johnson said fixing the UK’s energy supply is a key component to solving the cost-of-living crisis, which is seeing bills soaring following an increase to the energy price cap and pressure caused to global gas costs due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

In January, the Government announced £100 million of funding to support Sizewell C’s continued development, with the move aimed to attract further financing from private investors.

Negotiations between the Government and French project developer EDF started last year.

If built, Sizewell C would power the equivalent of about six million homes, as well as support up to 10,000 jobs in Suffolk and across the UK.

The station is a near-identical replica of Hinkley Point C, the plant currently under construction in Somerset, bringing down costs.