A pioneering nuclear power station is slated for construction on Anglesey, promising up to 3,000 jobs and a multi-billion pound investment.
Located at Wylfa, along the Welsh island’s northern coastline, the facility is set to house the UK’s first three small modular reactors (SMRs), with potential for expansion up to eight units.
Projected to commence next year, the initiative aims to generate power by the mid-2030s.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer stated that the UK, once a global leader in nuclear energy, had seen “years of neglect and inertia” leaving communities like Anglesey behind, adding “Today, that changes.”
The project, capable of powering approximately three million homes, will be undertaken by the publicly owned Great British Energy-Nuclear, backed by a £2.5 billion investment from the UK government.
During a visit to a further education college in north Wales on Thursday, Sir Keir emphasized the development’s potential to bring jobs for “decades to come” with work commencing “virtually straight away”.
Wales’ First Minister Eluned Morgan highlighted that she had been “pressing the case at every opportunity for Wylfa’s incredible benefits”.
SMRs operate on similar principles to larger reactors, utilizing a nuclear reaction to produce heat for electricity generation, but are significantly smaller in scale, yielding about a third of the power output.
Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband described the announcement as “exciting,” noting Britain’s participation in the competition for new reactor technologies.
Speaking on BBC Radio Wales Breakfast, Miliband added they hope to “work with local colleges to make sure that there are local skills providers, skills training opportunities, so local people get these jobs”.
Simon Bowen, chair of Great British Energy-Nuclear, called it an “historic moment for the UK”.
Ynys Môn MP Llinos Medi described the project as a potential “game-changer” for the area “but only if local people see real and lasting benefits”.
Shadow Secretary of State for Wales Mims Davies MP acknowledged the potential for job creation and investment, but stated that “the current plan will only generate a fraction of the power that a Gigawatt-powered plant would”.
Wales Green Party leader Anthony Slaughter criticized the project as “an expensive distraction from the clean, fast and cheap renewables already available to us”.
He advocated for “a fast, ambitious roll-out of solar, wind and wave energy that will create jobs and cut energy bills”.
Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) Wales characterized the plant as a “once in a generation” opportunity for jobs, supply chains, and regional infrastructure.
Great British Energy-Nuclear has also been tasked with identifying suitable sites across the UK for another large-scale nuclear power plant, similar to those under construction at Hinkley Point in Somerset and Sizewell in Suffolk, which can power the equivalent of six million homes.
The company will report back by autumn 2026, officials confirmed.
It remains unclear whether the focus on SMRs, which are smaller and simpler to construct, excludes Wylfa from consideration for larger-scale projects, despite its designation as the preferred location in 2024 by the previous UK Conservative government.
Prof Simon Middleburgh, director of the Nuclear Futures Institute at Bangor University, explained that SMRs would be “built in a modular manner in factories and shipped to the site to be put together a bit like an Ikea chair”.
He cautioned that “a few more hurdles” remained, including securing regulatory approvals, establishing the necessary manufacturing facilities, and training the workforce required to operate the plants.
Critics of the project emphasize the lack of an agreed-upon long-term storage solution for the UK’s nuclear waste and advocate for investment in renewable energy sources, such as wind, wave, and tidal power, as a more suitable path for Anglesey.
Dylan Morgan, of the People Against Wylfa-B campaign group, characterized the proposed SMRs as “an unnecessarily big development of an unproven technology”.
The government views SMRs as a secure, reliable, affordable, and low-carbon energy solution and believes that, with investment, they will generate thousands of jobs and stimulate manufacturing.
Wylfa was selected over a site at Oldbury in Gloucestershire, with the reactors designed by Rolls-Royce, subject to final contract agreements expected later this year.
The UK government emphasized the plant’s role in enhancing energy independence.
The decision to pursue small modular reactors at Wylfa drew criticism from US Ambassador Warren Stephens, who expressed “extreme disappointment”.
He had encouraged ministers to commit to a large-scale plant, with US firm Westinghouse reportedly having submitted proposals for a new gigawatt station at the location.
Downing Street stated that the decision to build the power station in Wales “doesn’t close the door” to a US manufacturer working on a future project.
The original nuclear power plant at Wylfa was decommissioned in 2015, and previous plans for a large-scale replacement were abandoned in 2021.
The company behind the scheme – the Japanese industrial giant Hitachi – cited spiralling costs and a failure to reach agreement with the UK government over funding.
The announcement carries significant political weight, with Labour’s leadership in Westminster seeking to demonstrate its commitment to major infrastructure investments.
In Wales, the First Minister has actively promoted the Wylfa project, with the announcement preceding the Senedd election by six months.
Eluned Morgan has aimed to strike a balance: differentiating the Welsh party from UK Labour while advocating for additional funding, further devolution of powers, and substantial investment announcements from her UK counterparts.
While securing the latter, numerous issues, including reforms to Wales’ funding model and the devolution of the Crown Estate – which controls a significant portion of the Welsh coastline and is crucial for future wind power development – remain unresolved.
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