Sites at Heysham and Dungeness offered to nuclear new build developers.

EDF Energy will initiate a sales process relating to the divestment of land potentially suitable for new nuclear build. The process will result in EDF Energy selling one site, at Dungeness in Kent or Heysham in Lancashire. These sites were acquired as a result of EDF Energy’s integration with British Energy in January.

The sale will allow EDF to deliver on a commitment it made to the European Commission as part of the acquisition of British Energy. This is also in line with the policy of the UK Government to have more than one developer of new nuclear power plants in the UK.

In the first stage of the sale process, which starts tomorrow, EDF Energy will invite credible nuclear operators to come forward with expressions of interest in the sites. The sale process will be advertised in the Financial Times tomorrow.

Humphrey Cadoux-Hudson, Managing Director Nuclear New Build, said:
“We believe these sites have good potential for new build and will be attractive to potential developers of nuclear power plants. This is an important step towards Government’s objective of competition in new nuclear build in the UK. It goes hand in hand with our own plans to build and operate four EPRs in the UK with the first operational by the end of 2017 as we seek to help address the country’s long-term energy issues.”

For further information, please contact:
Kaa Holmes 020 7752 2179
Sue Fletcher 01355 846282