UK prime minister Rishi Sunak’s announcement of a general election on 4 July has prompted questions about his government’s ambitious nuclear rollout plans, days after the announcement on 21 May of the long-expected selection of the Wylfa site in north Wales for new-build.

“There has for at least the last decade been a consensus in favour of the use of nuclear power in the UK by both the Conservative and Labour parties,” a nuclear power industry analyst told NucNet.

The analyst said that if the Labour party does win the election, as the polls now indicate they might, then there is likely to be little change in nuclear power policy.

Earlier this year the government set out plans to quadruple nuclear power generation to up to 24 GW by 2050, up from about 5.8 GW today.