Here's a handy table of all the potential nuclear projects being discussed at the moment, thanks to the NFLA.
The government has named several power station sites currently being decommissioned where there is interest in establishing new nuclear developments. Hartlepool, Cottam in Nottinghamshire and London Gateway. Great British Energy - Nuclear is already assessing Wylfa on the Isle of Anglesey and Oldbury-on-Severn in Gloucestershire, as potential sites for hosting three 470MW Rolls-Royce SMR reactors. "The government is also aware of developer or community interest in nuclear projects at several other sites, including Pioneer Park (Moorside), Trawsfynydd (via Cwmni Egino), and Dungeness."
Linda Pentz Gunter, writing in the Morning Star about the recent UK-US Nuclear Deal says: "we could achieve greater carbon emissions far faster for the same investment in renewable energy. Therefore, choosing the slow, expensive nuclear path instead of renewables results in more use of fossil fuels in the meantime. Furthermore, the "golden age" contract lists a whole rogues' gallery of companies who have already proven to be unreliable at best and certainly devoid of any interest in serving the needs of working people. Indeed, as with all major corporations their sole motive is profit. Among them are companies such as Holtec, mired in corruption, and TerraPower, owned by billionaire, Bill Gates, who went cap in hand to score a $2 billion subsidy from the US Department of Energy for his $4bn Natrium reactor. British taxpayers can expect to be similarly fleeced. None of the reactors promoted by the US companies on the list have actually received a licence. They are simply paper reactors."
Data centres can be up to 43% cheaper to run with renewable energy, compared to small modular reactors (SMRs), according to new analysis from the Centre for Net Zero (CNZ). Octopus Energy CEO, Greg Jackson, says we don't need gas or nuclear to power data centres, says Jackson. The idea that the incredible demand for energy for data centres can only be met by gas and maybe new nuclear is "horseshit."
The future of Newcleo, Europe's largest nuclear start-up, is uncertain. According to an audit of its accounts that the online business daily La Tribune has consulted, there is a "significant risk" for "the group's ability" to "continue" its activity if it does not manage to obtain new financing within "twelve months".
The French Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection Authority (ASNR) has severely criticised the crisis management at the EPR in Flamanville (Manche), which has been shut down since 19 June due to a valve problem.
There was a big feature story in the Sunday Times about Geological 'Disposal' of Nuclear Waste. The most likely location for a site is now off the Cumbrian coast, close to Sellafield. An access tunnel would be sunk onshore, and then run ten miles out below the seabed, where 250 miles of disposal tunnels would be dug, nearly ten times the size of the Finnish scheme. The lifetime cost of the UK project is estimated at up to £53 billion, compared with about £5 billion for the Finnish scheme.
This week's Renew Extra dealt with some of the claims made by Britain Remade.
Ofgem, the UK's energy markets regulator, has deemed Highview Power's proposed 3.2-GWh liquid air energy storage facilities at Hunterston and Killingholme eligible under its cap-and-floor regime, advancing them toward a final decision in Q2 2026. Alongside the 300-MWh Carrington project under development near Manchester, Highview's portfolio is poised to provide more than 7 GWh of dispatchable energy, the company said.
Analysis by Carbon Brief found that there had been 87 hours when Great Britain's national electricity demand was fully covered by 'clean' sources (renewables & nuclear). In 2021 there were only 2.5 hours. In the three years since, the average has been about 70 hours. Britain's 9,200 onshore wind turbines and another 2,900 offshore are the bedrock of 2025's clean hours. During this year's 87 hours, wind power contributed an average of 72% of electricity demand. Nuclear power 18% and solar 10%. However, despite the rapid move towards low-carbon energy, 87 hours is still a tiny fraction of the year: 1.3 per cent.
The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) has been urging the Royal Navy to remove potentially radioactive waste from the UK nuclear bomb base on the Clyde to reduce the risk of leaks and pollution, according to official files released to The Ferret.