£40bn of nuclear work on track as land auction closes

Plans to build ten new nuclear reactors worth £40bn,  moved one step closer after utility giants E.ON, RWE  and EDF grabbed  three new nuclear sites in the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority's £387 million land auction.

The three utilities saw off a consortium of Iberdrola, GDF Suez and Scottish and Southern Energy in an auction which ran for seven weeks.

The joint venture of E.ON and RWE npower won two of the three sites at Oldbury, Gloucestershire and at Wylfa in Anglesey.

E.ON will develop the Oldbury site whilst RWE npower will take over the Wylfa site. Both utilities are expected to build up to three reactor plants on each site.

EDF clinched the site in Bradwell in Essex but could sell this on to rivals, if  is successful in its plans to develop its preferred sites at Hinckley Point and Sizewell. EDF plans to build four EPR reactors in the UK on the two sites, with the first in operation by 2017.

A second auction for land at Sizewell will begin almost immediately, according to the NDA.Iberdrola said it will continue to pursue sites in the UK in subsequent auctions.

Eleven potential sites have been identified by the NDA as suitable for developing the next wave of new nuclear plants.