- Author, Huw Thomas
- Role, BBC Wales Business Correspondent
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Wylfa on Anglesey has been chosen as the preferred site for a large-scale nuclear power station, the UK government has said.
International energy companies have opened talks with the UK government to start construction on the new Wylfa plant.
UK Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho said the site would provide “thousands of well-paid jobs”.
The Welsh Minister, David TC Davies, says he will not “put a date” on when the plant could be built and ready for production, but said “Wylfa is destined to have nuclear power”.
When asked if the new power plant would be ready by 2040, he replied that “it traditionally takes a long time”.
Mr Davies said several international energy companies were interested in investing in the site.
Speaking to Radio Wales Breakfast, he said he had an “informal meeting” with representatives of South Korean energy company Kepco over dinner.
He said they had “a lot of interest” but there were “proper channels to go through”.
The new Wylfa power station would be on a similar scale to the new plant at Hinkley in Somerset and the proposed development at Sizewell in Suffolk.
The site is on the north coast of Anglesey and the first nuclear power station was here in the early 1970s.
The UK government wants to quadruple nuclear power capacity by up to 25 gigawatts by 2050 with a new fleet of plants as older plants reach the end of their lives.
“Anglesey has a proud nuclear history and it is only right that it can once again play a central role in strengthening the UK’s energy security,” said Coutinho.
She added that Wylfa would bring “clean and reliable energy” to millions of homes and create “thousands of well-paying jobs” and investment for North Wales.
The previous Wylfa power plant stopped producing power at the end of 2015.
Japanese operator Hitachi scrapped plans for a new nuclear reactor in 2020 and blocked the site.
During the Spring Budget, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced that the operator had sold the site to the UK government.
Ministers also bought a separate plot of land owned by Hitchai in Oldbury, Gloucestershire.
Great British Nuclear, the government body tasked with supplying more nuclear power, oversaw the purchase of both sites and is considering the use of small modular reactors as part of the UK’s nuclear power supply as well as large power stations.
Gwen Parry-Jones, chief executive of Great British Nuclear, said she was looking forward to a “market engagement programme” for the big gigawatt providers.
Jo Stevens, British Labour’s shadow Welsh secretary, said “any progress is welcome” but that the people of Anglesey “will believe it when they see it”.
“It’s been five years since ministers have sat back and watched past plans for Wylfa collapse,” she said.
“This project would already be 50% complete and we would see the benefits of thousands of construction jobs with almost a thousand more permanent jobs on the way.”
Analysis by Gareth Lewis, BBC Political Editor
Things are looking good in an election year. And that is the constituency that the Conservatives, Labor and Plaid Cymru will be fighting for.
Nuclear projects carry prestige, the promise of thousands of jobs, help meet green targets and look big and shiny – at least in the artist’s impression.
Wylfa was already here. A brave new nuclear dawn on Anglesey always has the dark cloud of bitter past experience on the horizon.
Today is a step, there are many more to come over the decades, especially when it comes to cost… long after the 2024 general election is ancient history.
A dinosaur that should not be resurrected
People Against Wylfa B (Pawb), a campaign group that opposes nuclear power on Anglesey, called it a “dinosaur” that “shouldn’t be resurrected”.
The group called for greater investment in renewable energy programs that use wind, solar and hydropower instead.
Pawb member Linda Rodgers said the site could not be built in time to help the climate crisis.
“We need to invest in the kind of jobs and energy measures that are sustainable and can be built quickly,” she said.
The partnership between Bechtel and Westinghouse has also expressed interest in building a new Wylfa plant.
Prospect, one of the unions representing workers in the nuclear industry, said Wylfa was “the best place in Europe” for large-scale nuclear power.
The Union’s deputy general secretary, Sue Ferns, said: “New gigawatt-scale nuclear power stations are vital to achieving net zero and our energy security.
“But they also retain well-paid and highly skilled jobs, which means this project would be a huge boost to the Welsh economy.
“We now need a laser focus on the delivery of new nuclear weapons to ensure that skills and experience are not lost and costs are reduced as we go forward.”