Designation of NNB Generation Company (SZC) Limited: draft reasons
This sets out the Secretary of State’s draft reasons for designating NNB Generation Company (SZC) Ltd, under the Nuclear Energy (Financing) Act 2022.
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28 November 2022: response to consultation published
We have published the feedback to this consultation from the bodies involved, with appropriate redactions on commercially sensitive issues, along with the government response to their points.
The Secretary of State has published his decision on the direction to designate.
The Nuclear Energy (Financing) Act established the legislative framework for the nuclear Regulated Asset Base (RAB) model to support the design, construction, commissioning, and operation of new nuclear energy projects, creating an additional method for funding future nuclear projects.
The first step in potentially allowing a nuclear company to benefit from the RAB model is for the Secretary of State to determine whether to designate the relevant nuclear company in relation to its nuclear project. The Secretary of State may only designate a nuclear company if the 2 criteria laid out in section 2(3) of the Act are met. Those criteria are that the Secretary of State is of the opinion that:
- the development of the nuclear project is sufficiently advanced to justify the designation of the nuclear company in relation to the project
- designating the nuclear company in relation to the project is likely to result in value for money
The Nuclear RAB model: statement on procedure and criteria for designation sets out the procedure that the Secretary of State expects to follow in determining whether to exercise the designation power and how the Secretary of State expects to decide whether the designation criteria are met.
The Secretary of State set out draft reasons for designating NNB Generation Company (SZC) Limited for a nuclear RAB.
In accordance with section 3(2) of the Act, the document was consulted on with the Environment Agency, Office for Nuclear Regulation, Ofgem and the NNB Generation Company (SZC) Limited. The consultation closed on 4 July 2022.
Although only the above bodies were consulted, we made this document available to aid transparency around the designation process. Where material within the draft reasons reflects policy in development, this was redacted from the published document. In addition, where information relates to matters which are commercially sensitive, or relevant to national security, material was also redacted.
Updates to this page
Last updated 28 November 2022 + show all updates
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We have published redacted responses from the bodies consulted and the government response.
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First published.