The UK is one step closer to a new nuclear power plant after the government announced a further £14.2bn in funding.
Sizewell C, near the town of Leiston on the Suffolk coast, is due to be up and running by the mid-2030s.
While the government claims the new facility represents a “golden age of clean energy” and says it will create thousands of jobs – those against it warn of the catastrophic consequences of a nuclear accident and damage to the local environment.
Here we look at what is due to be built at the Sizewell site – and why the project is so controversial.
What is Sizewell C?
The new site will house two nuclear reactors – generating up to 3.2 gigawatts of electricity, which is enough to power six million homes.
The government says it could meet 7% of the country’s total energy needs for up to 60 years.
It was initially proposed by the French energy company EDF and China’s General Nuclear Power Group, but the previous government bought the Chinese company out of its 20% stake in 2022.
Together, the UK government and EDF now own 83.5% of the site.
It is located near Sizewell beach – next to Sizewell A, a decommissioned nuclear site that opened in 1967, and Sizewell B, which is still running – and was the last nuclear site to open in the UK in 1995.
Image: The proposed new plant heads up a raft of new clean energy measures. Pic: EDF
Previous funding announcements mean the state has now invested a total of £17.8bn, with a final funding model due to be released this summer after private investors are secured to bridge the gap to the total £20bn cost.
Taxpayer money is expected to contribute £700m.
Image: Sizewell in Suffolk in the east of England
How long has it been in the making?
The project dates back to 2008, when then Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown declared the UK needed to boost its nuclear capacity.
There are four nuclear sites running in the UK – at Heysham, Hartlepool, Torness, and Sizewell B.
In 2010, the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition earmarked Sizewell as a potential new site.
EDF began consulting with locals in the area in 2012, finally submitting its development consent order in May 2020.
Image: The Sizewell A and B power stations in Suffolk. Pic: Reuters
It was granted in July 2022 despite the Planning Inspectorate’s recommendations it should be blocked over environmental concerns.
It also fought off a judicial review at the Court of Appeal brought by protest group Together Against Sizewell C.
Construction by EDF is due to start in the next year – and is set to take between nine and 12 years.
Image: The Suffolk Coast with Sizewell B in the background. Pic: Reuters
Why are people against it?
Two campaign groups – Together Against Sizewell C and Stop Sizewell C – have spearheaded efforts to block the site.
Locally, they say construction will damage 150 hectares of land nearby, which is home to two different nature reserves and thousands of birds, animals, and plant species. The appeal also cited concerns it would compromise local water supplies and may run over budget or fail to even get off the ground like the now-scrapped HS2 trainline.
More generally, nuclear power is very controversial.
While it does not produce carbon emissions like traditional fossil fuels, any nuclear activity is exceedingly high-risk.
Nuclear fission is the process by which uranium atoms are broken down into smaller particles to produce heat, which is then boiled to create steam that powers turbines to create electricity.
The International Atomic Energy Agency says all its regulated sites are the “safest and most secure facilities in the world” and subject to strict independent safety measures.
But high-profile nuclear accidents, although incredibly rare, have leaked deadly radiation into the atmosphere, killing people and likely poisoning others for generations to come.
These include the explosion at the Chernobyl plant in Ukraine in 1986 and the partial meltdown of one of the reactors at the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan following a tsunami in 2011.
Nuclear fission also produces huge amounts of radioactive waste, which has to be safely stored for hundreds of years and anti-nuclear campaigners worry about the safety of these storage sites.
Image: Together Against Sizewell C campaigners outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London in 2023. Pic: PA
What are the arguments for it?
The government wants to use nuclear energy to help meet its target of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
Chief executive of the Nuclear Industry Association Tom Greatrex has described Sizewell C as a “huge step forward” both for net zero – and energy security.
The Ukraine war compromised global gas and oil supplies, much of which came from Russia, sending prices rocketing.
Since then, Ukraine’s Western allies have made efforts to become more autonomous with energy production.
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Britain’s nuclear sector grew by a quarter to £20bn in the three years to 2024, with another site at Hinkley Point in Somerset currently under construction.
Some countries, like France, where EDF is based, already rely heavily on nuclear power.
Sizewell C will also create 10,000 new jobs and 1,500 apprenticeships, boosting the local and UK economy.
Around £330m has been tendered to local companies in contracts, with 70% of all those commissioned going to 3,500 British suppliers.
Mr Greatex said: “Sizewell C will provide reliable low-carbon power for more than 80 years, cutting gas use, creating thousands of high-quality skilled jobs, and long-term investment and opportunity up and down the country.”
Two traders jailed for rigging benchmark interest rates have had their convictions overturned by the Supreme Court.
Tom Hayes, 45, was handed a 14-year jail sentence – cut to 11 years on appeal – in 2015, which was one of the toughest ever to be imposed for white-collar crime in UK history.
The former Citigroup and UBS trader, along with Carlo Palombo, 46, who was jailed for four years in 2019 over rigging the Euribor interest rates, took their cases to the country’s highest court after the Court of Appeal dismissed their appeals last year.
The Supreme Court unanimously allowed Mr Hayes’ appeal, overturning his 2015 conviction of eight counts of conspiracy to defraud by manipulating Libor, a now-defunct benchmark interest rate.
Image: Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo celebrate after their convictions were overturned. Pic: Reuters
Ex-vice president of euro rates at Barclays bank Mr Palombo’s conviction for conspiring with others to submit false or misleading Euribor submissions between 2005 and 2009 was also quashed.
Mr Hayes, who served five and a half years in prison before being released on licence in 2021, described the “incredible feeling” after the ruling.
“My faith in the criminal justice system at times was likely destroyed and it has been restored by the justices from the Supreme Court today and I think it’s only right that more criminal appeals should be heard at this level,” he said.
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Image: Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo outside the Supreme Court. Pic: Reuters
Both he and Mr Palombo have been described as “scapegoats” for the 2008 financial crisis, but Mr Hayes said: “We literally had nothing to do with it.”
A spokesperson for the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), which opposed the appeals, said it would not be seeking a retrial.
In 2012, the SFO began criminal investigations into traders it suspected of manipulating the Libor and Euribor benchmark interest rates.
Image: Former trader Tom Hayes. Pic: PA
Mr Hayes was the first person to be prosecuted by the SFO, which brought prosecutions against 20 people between 2013 and 2019, seven of whom were convicted at trial, two pleaded guilty and 11 were acquitted.
He had also been facing criminal charges in the US but these were dismissed after two other men involved in a similar case had their convictions reversed in 2022.
Mr Hayes, a gifted mathematician who is autistic, was described at his Southwark Crown Court trial as the “ringmaster” at the centre of an enormous fraud to manipulate benchmark interest rates and boost his own six-figure earnings.
He has always maintained that the Libor rates he requested fell within a permissible range and that his conduct was common at the time and condoned by bosses.
Mr Hayes and Mr Palombo argued their convictions depended on a definition of Libor and Euribor which assumes there is an absolute legal bar on a bank’s commercial interests being taken into account when setting rates.
The panel of five Supreme Court justices found there was “ample evidence” for a jury to convict the two men if it had been properly directed.
But in an 82-page judgment, Lord Leggatt said jury direction errors made both convictions unsafe, adding: “That misdirection undermined the fairness of the trial.”
Lawyers representing Mr Hayes and Mr Palombo said the ruling could open the door for the seven others found guilty to have their convictions overturned and that there were grounds for a public inquiry.
Two people have died and two are seriously injured after a shooting in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland.
Police have cordoned off the scene in the village of Maguiresbridge, about 75 miles (120km) southwest of Belfast.
“We can advise there is no ongoing risk to the public,” a Police Service of Northern Ireland spokesperson said.
There was no mention of a motive behind the shooting, but Jemma Dolan, a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly from the area, called it “a domestic incident” in a post on social media.
Emergency services were called to the shooting in the Drummeer Road area of the village at 8.21am on Wednesday, a spokesperson for the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service said.
They confirmed that two people have been injured.
“Following assessment and initial treatment at scene, one patient has been taken to the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast, by air ambulance and another to South West Acute Hospital by ambulance,” the spokesperson added.
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Drummeer Road is currently closed, police said, warning that this could lead to delays on alternative roads.
Sinn Fein MP Pat Cullen has expressed her deep shock over the shooting, saying: “Firstly, my thoughts are with the victims and their families at this tragic time.
“I am in contact with the police around this ongoing situation. Police are currently at the scene of an incident outside Maguiresbridge and there are a number of road closures while they carry out their investigations.”
The Fermanagh and South Tyrone MP asked people “not to speculate on the details of this tragic and shocking incident”.
DUP MLA Deborah Erskine, who represents the area in the Northern Ireland Assembly, said that the community was “stunned” by the shooting in “a rural, quiet area.”
“Everyone is deeply affected by what has happened this morning,” she said.
His death came just weeks after he reunited with his Black Sabbath bandmates – Tony Iommi, Terence “Geezer” Butler and Bill Ward – and performed a huge farewell concert for fans.
The band paid tribute to him on Instagram by sharing an image of Osbourne on stage at the farewell gig in Birmingham and writing “Ozzy Forever”.
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Iommi, the band’s lead guitarist, said he was in disbelief at the news.
“It’s just such heartbreaking news that I can’t really find the words, there won’t ever be another like him. Geezer, Bill and myself have lost our brother.”
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Watch: Ozzy’s last concert
Butler, Black Sabbath’s bassist and primary lyricist, thanked Osbourne for “all those years – we had some great fun”.
He said: “Four kids from Aston – who’d have thought, eh? So glad we got to do it one last time, back in Aston. Love you.”
The original drummer for Black Sabbath, Bill Ward, posted a picture of him and Osbourne on Facebook saying: “Where will I find you now? In the memories, our unspoken embraces, our missed phone calls, no, you’re forever in my heart.”
Image: Osbourne with his wife Sharon during the 46th Annual Grammy Awards. Pic: AP
Sir Elton John described Osbourne as his “dear friend” and a “huge trailblazer” who “secured his place in the pantheon of rock gods”.
“He was also one of the funniest people I’ve ever met,” the singer wrote on Instagram.
Ronnie Wood, of The Rolling Stones, wrote: “I am so very sad to hear of the death of Ozzy Osbourne. What a lovely goodbye concert he had at Back To The Beginning in Birmingham.”
Born John Michael Osbourne on 3 December 1948 in Aston, Birmingham, he became known as the godfather of heavy metal.
The self-styled Prince of Darkness pioneered the music genre with Black Sabbath before going on to have huge success in his own right.
He was famous for hits including Iron Man, Paranoid, War Pigs, Crazy Train and Changes, both with the band and as a solo star.
Legendary American heavy metal band Metallica shared an image of them with Osbourne from 1986 along with an emoji of a broken heart.
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Posting on Instagram, Sir Rod Stewart said: “Sleep well, my friend. I’ll see you up there – later rather than sooner.”
Queen guitarist Sir Brian May said he was “grateful I was able to have a few quiet words” with Osbourne after his farewell show at Villa Park three weeks ago.
He said the world will miss the singer’s “unique presence and fearless talent”.
Foo Fighters said in a social media post: “Rock and Roll would not be as loud or as fun” without Osbourne, while Led Zeppelin front man Robert Plant wrote he had “truly changed the planet of rock”.