Group buys land for nuclear deal

A new nuclear power station could soon be seen at Sellafield with the news that a consortium of energy companies have purchased land at the site.

Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE), along with French firm GDF Suez and Scottish Power's Spanish owner Iberdrola, will pay at least £70 million for the new site, according to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA).

The firms will now set out plans for a 3.6 gigawatt capacity power station, with construction set to begin in 2015, subject to planning approval.

The deal involves an upfront payment of £19.5 million for the 470-acre plot, followed by a further minimum of £50.5 million in the next six years.

The land at Sellafield was nominated by the Government as part of its efforts to find sites suitable for new nuclear power stations.

Energy and climate change secretary Ed Miliband said: "These latest plans, together with the ambition of existing plans from two other operators, mean that new nuclear could power the equivalent of all 26 million homes in the UK."

Jamie Reed MP for Copeland, which includes the Sellafield site, said the move confirmed that West Cumbria was at the heart of the UK nuclear industry and provides optimism about the future for the region.

"This is a landmark announcement - the most important for our part of the world for decades," he said.

But Greenpeace said the deal did not mean there would be a nuclear plant built in the area, suggesting there were "huge uncertainties" over the project.