Rishi Sunak hints Wylfa could be preferred nuclear site

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has given his strongest hint yet that Wylfa, on Anglesey, will be named one of the preferred sites for a new nuclear power station within months.

He called it a "fantastic site" that could accommodate both small modular reactors (SMRs) and a larger plant.

Mr Sunak said "Wylfa is somewhere that could do both" and the preferred sites would be announced later this year.

He spoke to BBC Wales ahead of the Conservative conference in Manchester.

Small modular reactors, which the prime minister called the "nuclear technologies of the future", are nuclear fission reactors that are smaller than conventional ones and thought to be less expensive to build than traditional plants.

The original Wylfa nuclear power station ended electricity generation in late 2015.

Last year, the UK government launched its Energy Security Strategy, with Wylfa mentioned as one of the sites that could get the go-ahead for a new nuclear development.

On Thursday, Mr Sunak told BBC Wales political editor Gareth Lewis he was "committed to nuclear power in general because it is an important part of how we deliver energy security in the UK, but also how we decarbonise over time to get to net zero but in a proportionate and pragmatic way".

"Now Wylfa is a fantastic site because it can do both potentially giga-watt power but also could do small modular reactors," he said.

"Without getting into too much of the specifics, later this year we will be announcing the sites for the next stage of our SMR process on small modular reactors.

"I can't say much more before then but obviously Wylfa is somewhere that could do both."

In May, a report by MPs on the Welsh Affairs Committee urged UK ministers to show "more concrete commitment" to a new nuclear power station at Wylfa, warning that Hitachi's scrapped bid to build one in 2020 had left "scars on the local community".

The prime minister made a passionate defence of his government's deal with Tata to keep Port Talbot's steelworks open, announced earlier this month.

The steel plant, the UK's biggest, is to receive a subsidy of up to £500m from taxpayers to install an electric arc furnace and produce steel in a greener way.

But as many as 3,000 job losses are expected across the UK, mainly in Port Talbot, with unions calling the deal a "devastating blow for workers".

Mr Sunak denied the plans were not ambitious enough.

"I think it is a very glass half empty way to look at it," he said.

"That steel plant was facing compete closure - 8,000 jobs would have been lost, that's what people were worried about.

"What's happened here is that the government has stepped in, that's the UK government not the Welsh government, the UK government has stepped-in and provided an enormous amount of support to help that steel plant have a sustainable long-term future, producing clean steel and saving 5,000 jobs.

"That actually, compared to what the situation was, shows that the UK government is committed to the people of Wales, committed to steel-making and can look forward to a much more sustainable future for the plant and that area."

The full interview with the prime minister can be seen on Politics Wales, on BBC One Wales, at 10:00 BST on 1 October and on iPlayer.