Overview

• Chancellor Rachel Reeves approved £14.2bn in spending review funding to initiate the Sizewell C project on the Suffolk coast.
• EDF and partners estimate the plant will generate enough electricity for six million homes by the 2030s while creating 10,000 jobs and 1,500 apprenticeships during construction.
• Critics including the Stop Sizewell C campaign warn total costs may swell towards £40bn and that early taxpayer funding exposes households to overruns.
• The project will use a regulated-asset-base model designed to lower capital costs but which passes construction risks and financing charges onto consumers.
• The government also committed £2.5bn to fusion energy research and named Rolls-Royce as preferred bidder for small modular reactors to bolster its net zero strategy.