Wylfa Newydd plans cleared to begin their official assessment

PLANS for the £12bn Wylfa Newydd nuclear plant have formally been accepted for consideration by the Planning Inspectorate.

In addition, four other key environmental permits for Horizon Nuclear Power have been cleared to begin their assessment by Natural Resources Wales (NRW).

Horizon’s 41,000-page Development Consent Order (DCO) submission was submitted at the beginning of June, and has now completed its statutory 28-day period of review by the Planning Inspectorate to ensure it met the standards required.

Duncan Hawthorne, CEO of Horizon Nuclear Power, said: “This is a significant milestone for Horizon and an important step on the path to having all the permissions we need to build Wylfa Newydd.”

The DCO process now formally starts with the pre-examination phase, where members of the public are invited by the Planning Inspectorate to become an interested party by making a relevant representation.

An examining authority is also appointed at the pre-examination stage, and all interested parties will be invited to attend a preliminary meeting run and chaired by the examining authority.

Horizon’s application for a marine Licence, operations combustion permit, operations water discharge permit and construction water discharge permit were “duly made” by Natural Resources Wales and have now progressed to the next stage of their respective determination processes, with NRW having launched a public consultation process.