By Luke Thomas
The UK’s flagship state pension scheme says it has “no current plans” to invest in nuclear infrastructure such as Sizewell C, marking a major setback for the government’s mission to grow the country’s future nuclear power output.
Following a change to its energy policy last year, there had been hopes from inside the government
that the National Employment Savings Trust (Nest), which manages over £27 billion in assets may revise its approach to investments in nuclear projects.
Nest, however, said in a statement that it has no direct investments in nuclear and “no current plans to review this any time soon”.
“Our fund managers… would need to be confident it offers a good investment opportunity,” Nest added, in comments reminiscent of the large City investors who previously ruled out funding.
The government last year set a target of 24 gigawatts of new nuclear capacity by 2050, supplied by
large plants like Sizewell C, in coastal Suffolk, and smaller modular reactors. Sizewell C is expected to meet up to 7 per cent of the UK’s power demands once in place.
Sizewell C will be built by French giant EDF and is expected to cost over £30 billion, which is likely to be funded by a mixture of debt and equity.
In response to the statement, first reported by The Sunday Times, the government said it was confident it would be able to secure the investment needed going forward.
“New nuclear is key to our long-term energy security – that’s why the Government made a historic £700 million investment to help develop Sizewell C and become a project shareholder,” a spokesperson for the Department for Energy Security said.
“We are working closely with the project company to attract new finance. We know many investors are prepared to support infrastructure delivering energy security and net zero, including new nuclear power, and we are confident that investors will take assurance from the Government’s clear commitment to the nuclear sector,” they added.
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