Oral Answers to Questions

Allison Gardner Excerpts

Tuesday 18th November 2025 Commons Chamber

[Dr Allison Gardner (Stoke-on-Trent South) (Lab)]

3. What steps he plans to take to support the clean energy transition through the adoption of new nuclear power.

[The Minister for Energy (Michael Shanks)]

We are delivering the biggest nuclear building programme in a generation, overturning the legacy of the Conservatives, who failed to complete a single project in their 14 years in office. Just this week, we announced that the flagship small modular reactor project would be based in Wylfa, bringing thousands of jobs to north Wales and also right across the country in the supply chain. Great British Energy Nuclear’s ambition is that 70% of supply chain products across the SMR fleet will be British built.

[Dr Gardner]

Advanced ceramics and ceramic matrix composites play a critical role in the manufacturing of nuclear infrastructure. They are used in nuclear fission reactors as pellets, ceramic coatings are applied to small modular reactors, and ceramics are needed in fuel particle coating, moderators, reflectors and control rods. North Staffordshire is a hotbed of advanced ceramics manufacturing, and I ask the Minister to ensure that our local companies receive investment as part of the nuclear modular reactor scheme to ensure supply chain resilience.

[Michael Shanks]

My hon. Friend is a fantastic champion of her community and of the potential of businesses in her community to contribute to this. We have been clear as a Government that we want UK supply chains to benefit from these projects and to deliver their world-leading expertise across all our civil nuclear projects, including the SMR programme, Hinkley Point C and Sizewell C. To achieve this, we will continue to engage with industry right across the country and to address any barriers to entry into the nuclear sector, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises who might not know exactly how to enter the supply chains, to ensure that they are in the best possible place to take advantage of the huge number of opportunities that will be created by this new golden age of nuclear in the UK.