Newcleo to raise £900m to build fleet of small nuclear reactors in UK - The Times

Newcleo to raise £900m to build fleet of small nuclear reactors in UK
Stefano Buono says Newcleo will press ahead regardless of the government’s competition BENJAIN GIRETTE/BLOOMBERG VIA GETTY IMAGES

A British-based nuclear company backed by Italy’s Agnelli family plans to raise nearly £900 million to advance a plan to build a fleet of small nuclear reactors in Britain.

Newcleo, based in London, has an ambitious scheme to build one plant a year in the UK up to 2050 and eventually generate 4 gigawatts of electricity, more than will be produced by the large new nuclear plant being built at Hinkley Point in Somerset by EDF.

Its reactor will use fuel made in part from plutonium. Britain has one of the world’s largest stores of plutonium, a waste product from traditional nuclear plants.

Newcleo could be a contender in the competition announced last week by Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, for designs for small modular reactors