News

The Dungeness B nuclear power station has been sold to a French energy giant in a deal announced in Paris this morning (24 September).

Britain's plans for a new generation of nuclear power stations received the boost when French energy company EDF announced it had agreed to buy British Energy in a £12.4bn deal.

Taxpayers are likely to get a windfall as the government owns 36% of British Energy having stepped in to rescue the firm in 2002.

If shareholders approve the deal, EDF will be able to develop the UK's nuclear power industry.

British Energy runs eight UK nuclear sites with adjacent land on which reactors could be built: Dungeness B, Hartlepool, Heysham 1 and 2 in Lancashire, Hinkley Point B in Somerset, Hunterston B in Ayrshire, Sizewell B in Suffolk and Torness in East Lothian.

The government hopes to build several new nuclear generators around the UK to solve the looming energy crisis, and British Energy's eight sites are seen as likely locations.