OLDBURY has been included on a list of eight sites named by the government today as being suitable for new nuclear power stations.

The proposals for new UK nuclear power plants are part of a series of national policy statements on energy which have been published following a public consultation.

Horizon Nuclear Power, who have proposed to build on the site at Shepperdine near Oldbury, welcomed the announcement by the Department for Energy and Climate Change today.

Alan Raymant, Chief Operating Officer of Horizon, said: "The publication of these statements represents another step forward towards the delivery of new nuclear developments in the UK.

"Oldbury is an excellent site for nuclear new build and a new power station here can bring hundreds of jobs and millions of pounds of investment into the area. Approved National Policy Statements are necessary to allow us to progress our planning application."

Horizon said the Office for Nuclear Regulation’s assessment of reactor technologies was also important.

"The Generic Design Assessment timetable has quite rightly been adapted to make sure any lessons learned from the events in Japan can be incorporated, enabling us to set out a clear, confident safety case alongside our planning application," said Mr Raymant.

"New nuclear developments can provide the UK with a clean, secure and sustainable energy future."

Horizon plans to deliver around 6,000 MW of new nuclear power station capacity in the UK by 2025. As well as its Oldbury site, the company has a site a Wylfa on the Island of Anglesey, North Wales.

Tim Proudler, planning and consents manager for Horizon, said: "We are starting at Wylfa first and we’ll look to incorporate learnings from the programme into our approach to Oldbury.

"We expect to have more details of that in the new year. By then we’ll have seen the final report of the Chief Nuclear inspector into lessons learned from Japan, and we expect to have selected a construction consortium for Wylfa."

The other sites named by the government for new nuclear build are Bradwell, Essex; Hartlepool; Heysham, Lancashire; Hinkley Point, Somerset; Sellafield, Cumbria; Sizewell, Suffolk; and Wylfa, Anglesey.

The plans will be debated and voted on in Parliament.

Energy Minister Charles Hendry said: "Around a quarter of the UK's generating capacity is due to close by the end of this decade. We need to replace this with secure, low carbon, affordable energy.

"This will require over £100 billion worth of investment in electricity generation alone. This means twice as much investment in energy infrastructure in this decade as was achieved in the last decade."

Mr Hendry said industry "needs as much certainty as possible to make such big investments," adding that the plans "set out our energy need to help guide the planning process, so that if acceptable proposals come forward in appropriate places, they will not face unnecessary hold-ups".