Source · Select Committees · Energy Security and Net Zero Committee
Recommendation 2
2
Accepted
Explicitly state preferred nuclear technologies for deployment and envisaged site locations.
Recommendation
As we said in our previous Report, Gridlock or Growth, there remains a fundamental tension between the Government’s stated preference for a market-led approach to energy and the trend towards active government management. This is especially apparent in nuclear policy, where siting for gigawatt-scale plants has always required some degree of state backing. Given this reality, the Government needs to be considerably more explicit about what nuclear technologies it wants deployed and where it envisages them being located. (Recommendation, Paragraph 20)
Government Response Summary
The government committed to setting out its ambitions and next steps on nuclear, and has commissioned the National Energy System Operator (NESO) to produce a Strategic Spatial Energy Plan by 2050 to determine optimal locations for new energy projects, including nuclear.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
We know that nuclear is an industry that demands long term thinking, which is why, building on our 2030 Clean Power Action Plan, we will set out plans for the energy system into the 2030s and beyond, including our ambitions and next steps on nuclear. We, alongside energy ministers in the Scottish and Welsh governments have asked the National Energy System Operator (NESO) to produce the first ever Strategic Spatial Energy Plan out to 2050, across land and sea in Great Britain. NESO will look at how to best spread new energy projects, including nuclear, across the country in a way that takes into account other sectors, such as transport and water supply, as well as the environment.