Nuclear power start-up pulls out of Britain as Miliband drags feet

Newcleo plans to build new facility in France after frustration with Labour’s indecision

A nuclear start-up is quitting the UK in frustration after ministers, including Ed Miliband, failed to support the project. The Telegraph has the story.

Newcleo, an Anglo-Italian company, said it was suspending a £4bn proposal to build a fleet of mini nuclear reactors in Britain and planned to scale back its domestic presence dramatically. The company currently employs about 150 people and all those roles are now at risk.

Bosses told The Telegraph they were frustrated with a lack of concrete action from ministers, including Mr Miliband, the Energy Secretary.

They said the company struggled to get support for their proposals to build reactors “in principle”, which had made it impossible to take investment decisions with confidence.

In recent months, Newcleo has been close to announcing plans to build up to four of its lead-cooled fast reactors at a site in the East Midlands. The reactors would have been fuelled by reprocessed nuclear waste imported from France and produced enough power for 1.6m homes.

Overall, the project would have created 400 jobs over 60 years and generated £4bn of investment.

But Andrew Murdoch, Newcleo’s UK boss, said that when the company asked the Government to provide assurances it would support the plans, it was left disappointed.

Read the full story here.