Sizewell C, a new nuclear power plant in England, has signed multi-year fuel supply contracts with Urenco and Framatome, officials said Sunday.
Urenco was awarded a six-year fuel supply contract to provide enriched uranium services for the first six years of the nuclear generation station, according to Sizewell C’s press release.
Sizewell C said Urenco’s supply contract will support nearly 1,000 jobs at Urenco’s enrichment site at Capenhurst near Chester, United Kingdom. Sizewell C is predominantly owned by the UK government.
For Framatome’s contract with Sizewell C, the company was awarded a long-term fuel fabrication for the station’s first cores and a number of ensuing reloads, according to the release.
The nuclear fuel will first be fabricated using enriched uranium at Framatome’s factory in Romans, France until its UK facility is constructed, according to the release, Framatome announced plans to build a fuel fabrication facility in November 2023 to support UK current reactors and future reactors.
The timeframe of Framatome’s contract was not disclosed. The contract values of both agreements were also not provided in the release.
The Sizewell C project, based in Suffolk, England, will produce 3,200 megawatts of electricity, or enough to power about six million homes using two European Pressurized Reactors (EPR) near the Sizewell B nuclear power plant. EPR is a Generation III+ pressurized water reactor.
In July, Sizewell C picked three construction companies for the nuclear project. It was also approved for £38 billion in investment ($51 billion USD) by the UK government during that month.
The approval marks the first time since 1995 that the UK has opened a nuclear plant as the existing nuclear fleet, outside of Sizewell B, is expected to be phased out by the early 2030s.
