On February 17th, 2012 The U.K. Government announced agreements for French cooperation to grow the nation's nuclear power industry, in a meeting between U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Nicholas Sarkozy.

In public statements, the Government is attempting to cast expanding the nuclear industry as building the green economy. However, this focus on nuclear power comes in sharp contrast to the ruling Conservative Party leadership's frequent conflicts with the U.K. solar industry.

"At our last summit, we signed a historic partnership on defense," stated U.K. PM Cameron. "Today, we are matching that ambition on nuclear energy."
"As two great civil nuclear nations, we will combine our expertise to strengthen industrial partnership, improve nuclear safety and create jobs at home."

New nuclear plants to be built in multiple locations in the UK

Agreements signed during the meeting include a GBP 400 million (USD 634 million) deal on reactors between the Rolls Royce Group plc (London, U.K.) and AREVA (Courbevoie, France), including reactors at the Hinkley Point plant in Somerset, and a new Rolls Royce factory in Rotherham, England to supply nuclear power plants.

The agreements also include an engineering contract between EDF SA (Paris, France) and Kier/BAM for a new nuclear project at the same location.

The two governments also called for further studies on electricity interconnection between the U.K. and France, as well as agreements to extend cooperation on civil nuclear security, research and development, and nuclear industry workforce skills development.

The U.K. Department of Energy and Climate Change states that there are currently plans for new nuclear power plants in Somerset, Suffolk, Cumbria, North Wales and Gloucestershire.

2012-02-22| Courtesy: U.K. Department of Energy and Climate Change; Image: Richard Baker | solarserver.com © Heindl Server GmbH

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