This is part of the GBP1.7 billion of new direct government funding to develop a large-scale nuclear project announced in October.

UK households will pay almost triple the price to heat their homes this winter compared with a year ago, a jarring increase for millions of people already struggling to afford everyday essentials.

UK was facing a “catastrophic winter”, telling the BBC that half of all households could fall into fuel poverty without intervention.

Under the government’s latest “reasonable worst-case scenario,” Britain could face an electricity capacity shortfall totaling about a sixth of peak demand, even after emergency coal plants have been fired up, according to people familiar with the government’s planning.

As technology evolves faster than ever, we become more and more reliant on a new cohort of minerals. We are moving to a world powered by critical minerals: we need lithium, cobalt and graphite to make batteries for electric cars; silicon and tin for our electronics; rare earth elements for electric cars and wind turbines.

The UK's gas storage capacity is tiny when compared with most of Europe. The UK has just 0.9 Bcm of gas storage relative to around 80 Bcm of annual consumption, compared with Europe which has roughly 105 Bcm of gas storage, equal to 22% of annual utilization, according to industry body Offshore Energy UK.

The Office of Nuclear Regulation is responsible for the regulation of the safety and security of nuclear installations in the UK. However, fusion reactors are not prescribed installations for the purposes of the Nuclear Installations Act 1965.

A single nuclear power plant has the potential to generate enough hydrogen to decarbonise the heating of one million homes or 40,000 hydrogen buses from a site no more than a few square miles in size, with technology that is available today.

The UK Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) said on 14 June that the government had published documents which show significant progress towards implementing a new funding model which will give nuclear projects the financial support they need and attract private investment.

Hinkley Point B started operations in 1976 and, in 2012, the estimated end of its generation was extended to 2023, with a +/- 2 years proviso.