Horizon Nuclear Power today completed the purchase of land earmarked for a new nuclear power station at Wylfa on the Isle of Anglesey. With the completion of the purchase, land within the Government boundary for permanent nuclear buildings transfers into Horizon's ownership from the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and energy firm EdF. The land was secured by Horizon in an auction process in 2009 and the transaction was subject to a number of conditions which have now been resolved. Alan Raymant Chief Operating Officer of Horizon said: "This is great news and marks the achievement of a further milestone in Horizon’s development of new nuclear at Wylfa. The UK Government designated the National Policy Statement on nuclear energy earlier in the year and this has cleared the way to completing the agreement. "Taking title to the land is one of the key steps required for us to be able to develop a new power station on the Wylfa site." Horizon is bringing forward plans to develop up to 3.3 GW of new nuclear capacity at Wylfa, with the first unit scheduled to come online around 2020.

This week the company signed a Planning Performance Agreement with Isle of Anglesey County Council which enables the council to secure the additional resources it needs to assess the development proposal, independent of its role in determining any application.