The U.K.'s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority Thursday invited companies to contact them over potentially using their assets for the construction of new nuclear power plants in the U.K.
"Interested parties should write to the NDA stating which assets and activities they have an interest in, whether if more than one asset they see benefits in a combination of assets and the benefits which would result for the NDA," the authority said in a statement.
The NDA, a public body set up in 2005 to oversee the decommissioning of the U.K. nuclear industry, owns 18 nuclear sites, two of which are still operational - Wylfa and Oldbury. The remainder are in decommissioning: Dounreay, Hunterston A, Chapelcross, Calder Hall, Trawsfynydd, Sellafield, Windscale, Winfrith, Sizewell A, Bradwell, Berkeley, Hinkley Point A, Dungeness A, Springfields, Capenhurst and Low Level Waste Repository.
The NDA wants responses by April 3 and said this process doesn't replace the strategic siting assessment the government plans to start in Spring 2008 for the possible siting of new nuclear reactors in the U.K.
Business Minister John Hutton welcomed the move by the NDA. "Planning applications for new plants are likely to focus on areas in the vicinity of existing sites and so it's welcome that the NDA is making its significant land and other assets available to the market," he said.
In January, the U.K. government invited companies to put forward proposals to build new nuclear reactors in the U.K.
The U.K., one of the first countries to invest in nuclear power in the early 1960s, is under pressure to plug a looming energy gap that some estimate is due to start in about 10 years' time when old nuclear- and coal-powered plants are due to be retired.