Wylfa nuclear power plant plans go ahead, creating Anglesey jobs

A first-of-its-kind nuclear power station will be built on Anglesey, bringing up to 3,000 jobs and billions of pounds of investment.

The site at Wylfa, on the north coast of the Welsh island, will have the UK’s first three small modular reactors (SMRs), although the site could potentially have capacity for up to eight.

Work will begin next year, with the aim of producing electricity by the mid-2030s.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said: “Britain was once a world leader in nuclear energy, but years of neglect and inertia have left places like Anglesey disappointed and left behind. Today that is changing.”

The news was also welcomed by First Minister Eluned Morgan, who said she was “pressing the case at every opportunity for the incredible benefits of Wylfa”.

Using the Welsh name for Anglesey, he described it as “the moment for which Ynys Môn and all Wales have been waiting”.

The project, which can provide electricity to approximately three million homes, will be built by the state-owned company Great British Energy-Nuclear and will be supported by a £2.5 billion investment from the UK government.

SMRs operate similarly to large reactorsuses a nuclear reaction to generate heat, which produces electricity; but this is a very small fraction of the size, at about one-third of production output.

Simon Bowen, chairman of Great British Energy-Nuclear, said: “This is a historic moment for the UK and an important step in realizing Britain’s potential to pioneer nuclear energy.

“These first SMRs at Wylfa will underpin a fleet-based approach to nuclear development, strengthening the UK’s energy independence and bringing long-term investment to the local economy.”

The company has also been tasked with identifying potential sites for another large-scale nuclear power station, similar to those being built at Hinkley Point in Somerset and Sizewell in Suffolk, which have the potential to power the equivalent of six million homes.

Officials said the plant will report by autumn 2026 and an assessment of sites in the UK, including Scotland, has been requested by Energy Secretary Ed Miliband.

It is unclear whether plans for SMR, which is smaller and easier to build, would exclude Wylfa from consideration after it was identified as the preferred location in 2024 by the previous UK Conservative government.

The decision to opt for small modular reactors at Wylfa was criticized by US ambassador Warren Stephens, who said he was “extremely disappointed” by the decision.

While he called on ministers to establish a large-scale facility, US firm Westinghouse reportedly submitted plans to build a new gigawatt station in the region.

“If you want to get shovels in the ground as soon as possible and make a big move on energy prices and availability, there is a different path and we look forward to decisions being made on large-scale nuclear projects soon,” Mr Stephens said.

One industry expert called the announcement “incredible.”

Professor Simon Middleburgh, Director of Bangor University’s Nuclear Futures Institute, said: “These are smaller than the average reactor, are built in a modular way in factories and shipped to site to be put together, sort of like an Ikea chair.”

He added that the planned SMRs “fit well” with the existing grid capacity at the Wylfa site and offer similar electricity production as the old power plant, which is now decommissioned.

He cautioned that there are “a few more hurdles to jump through,” such as gaining regulatory approval, building the factories needed to build SMRs, and training the workforce to operate them.

Opponents of the project point out that a long-term storage facility for the UK’s nuclear waste has not yet been agreed and say what Anglesey needs is investment in renewable energy schemes such as wind, wave and tidal.

Dylan Morgan, of campaign group People Against Wylfa-B, told BBC Wales that the proposed SMRs were far from “minor” and were in fact “an unnecessarily large development of an unproven technology”.

“Modular reactor technologies are praised internationally by many companies, but they are still only plans on paper,” he said.

The government sees them as a safe, reliable, affordable and low-carbon energy system and believes SMRs will create thousands of jobs and increase production through investment.

Wylfa has beaten competition from another site at Oldbury in Gloucestershire, with reactors designed by British engineering firm Rolls-Royce and subject to final contracts expected later this year.

The UK government said the facility would help achieve energy independence.

The former nuclear power station at Wylfa was closed in 2015 and previous plans for a large-scale refurbishment fell through in 2021.

Japanese industrial giant Hitachi, the company behind the plan, claimed that costs were increasing and that an agreement could not be reached with the UK government on financing.

Sasha Wynn Davies, now chair of the Welsh Nuclear Forum, worked as a senior executive on these plans.

“I will never forget going to the secondary school in Amlwch and speaking to some young students there and saying that unfortunately we were not progressing as a project,” he said.

“I will never forget their faces because they were so upset, for their hopes for the future, but also for their parents and what this means economically and socially for the area.

“So let’s hope that our time is back now, and there is hope, especially for our young people.”

There is a huge political element to the announcement; Labour’s leadership in Westminster is keen to show that it makes business sense when it comes to major investment in infrastructure projects.

In Wales, the prime minister is pressing hard for Wylfa, with the announcement coming just six months before the Senedd election.

Eluned Morgan is trying to strike a balance: she is differentiating her Welsh party from the UK Labor Party, but she is also pressing for extra funding, more devolution and major investment announcements from her UK counterparts.

It has certainly achieved the latter, although many other issues remain unresolved, such as reform of the way Wales is financed and the devolution of the Crown Estate, which owns much of the Welsh coastline and is vital for future wind energy.