Hutton: "Strong" interest in new nuclear power stations
Thursday, 6 March 2008 12:00 AM
The government's plans for a new generation of nuclear power stations have moved a step forward.
The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) has already confirmed it will make its sites available for developers wanting to build a new generation of nuclear power stations.
Today it appealed to interested parties to state what assets they are interested in by April 3rd.
NDA owns 18 nuclear sites, two of which are still operational. The government hopes NDA land, its fuel manufacturing business at Springfields and existing uranic material could all be used in the next generation of nuclear power stations.
Despite scepticism of sufficient interest in developing the costly projects, business secretary John Hutton today said there was "strong" interest in building new power stations.
He claimed there was "considerable interest" from the energy industry in the role of NDA sites specifically.
Hr Hutton said: "Planning applications for new plants are likely to focus on areas in the vicinity of existing sites so it's welcome that the NDA is making its significant land and assets available to the market."
Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulation invited energy companies to come forward with proposals for new nuclear power stations on January 10th.
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