The supply contract with Urenco for enriched uranium services will support the first six years of the two-unit plant’s operation, establishing a secure front-end fuel supply. The enrichment services will be provided at Urenco’s enrichment site at Capenhurst, near Chester in the north-west of England.
“The importance of Sizewell C in the UK’s energy future cannot be underestimated, and Urenco is proud to have been selected as a supplier of choice,” said Urenco CEO Boris Schucht. “This will support the millions in economic contributions we make to the UK every year through the enrichment site we have in Cheshire, one of four such sites we have globally, as well as helping to grow skills in the nuclear industry, create jobs and strengthen supply chains.”
Sizewell C has also signed a long-term fuel fabrication agreement with Framatome for the first cores and a number of subsequent reloads. The fuel will first be fabricated using the enriched uranium at Framatome’s factory in Romans, France, until its new UK facility is available. Sizewell C said the UK factory will create new jobs and reduce reliance on fuel imports, strengthening the security of fuel supply in the UK.
Framatome has previously announced multi-billion pound contracts with Sizewell C, including the delivery of the two nuclear heat production systems for the project.
“Framatome is proud to extend its partnership with Sizewell C through this fuel supply contract,” said Lionel Gaiffe, Senior Executive Vice President, Fuel Business Unit at Framatome. “We remain deeply committed to helping the country meet its net zero targets and contribute to strengthen security of fuel supply through a diverse and resilient supply chain.”
The plan is for Sizewell C to feature two EPR reactors producing 3.2 GW of electricity, enough to power the equivalent of around six million homes for at least 60 years. It would be a similar design to the two-unit plant being built at Hinkley Point C in Somerset, with the aim of building it more quickly and at lower cost as a result of the experience gained from what is the first new nuclear construction project in the UK for about three decades. A final investment decision for the Sizewell C project was taken in July this year.
Julia Pyke and Nigel Cann, Joint Managing Directors of Sizewell C, said: “These two contracts represent a major moment for Sizewell C and for energy security in the UK – this is about delivering the fuel supply for a project that will power 7% of the UK’s energy needs.
“This is also another big moment for nuclear jobs in the UK. The fuel that will go in our reactors will be low-carbon and predominantly sourced from the UK, produced by skilled British workers. We’ve already pledged to deliver 70% of the project’s construction value to UK businesses, and investing in fuel fabrication here in the UK will help us increase that to around 90% across the lifetime of the project. This is what we mean by doing infrastructure differently – and it puts the UK’s energy security and our nuclear supply chain in a much stronger place.”
Earlier this month, Sizewell C announced it had awarded Arabelle Solutions a contract for the supply and installation of two complete turbine islands for the planned Sizewell C plant. The EDF subsidiary is already supplying turbines for the sister project, Hinkley Point C.
