The government will take a 20% stake in the planned Sizewell C nuclear reactor, according to an article on BBC News. The other major stakeholder will be French nuclear development agency EDF, which will take a 20% stake.

The government hopes that the two major stakeholders will reassure private investment into taking the remaining 60%.

When complete Sizewell C will generate 3.2GW of electricity, enough to power six million homes, and will operate for at least 60 years. It will be located in the village of Sizewell in Suffolk, next to the decommissioned Sizewell A and currently-operating Sizewell B facilities.

Nuclear power is expected to play a major role in the UK’s efforts to wean itself off fossil fuels in the coming decades. It’s not yet clear whether these additional ambitions will include large-scale plants, smaller reactors based on nuclear submarine technology, or both.

For an Engineering Matters episode on the development of the Small Modular Reactors that might supplement major schemes such as Sizewell C, click here.