The Prime Minister named “promoting nuclear energy as a clean energy source” as one of the 10 items in his November 2020 plan for the “green industrial revolution”.
For years there has been an interest within the government in funding the next generation of nuclear power technology, particularly small modular reactors.
Mr Johnson’s administration has held talks with Rolls-Royce about taxpayers’ money that will support the company’s push toward such technology.
However, parts of Downing Street are known to be frustrated that the company hasn’t moved the project forward any faster.
About £ 385 million is already available from the government through the Advanced Nuclear Fund, with up to £ 215 million to be spent on smaller power plant technologies.
Discussions about nuclear power have been hampered by the involvement of Chinese companies in the construction of power plants in the UK in the past. Over the past half decade, the mood in parliament and within the government has become more critical of Beijing’s growing economic power and influence on the world stage.
Critics have questioned the involvement of the Chinese state-owned China General Nuclear Power Group in the construction of Hinkley Point C, the Somerset facility approved in 2016.
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