Trawsfynydd ruled out of new nuclear power plan

However, despite being missed off its initial proposals, the organisation said Trawsfynydd is an “interesting site for future nuclear development”.

A Plaid Cymru MP said it was difficult to see how the decision was not based on “political considerations”.

GBN has previously announced the purchase of land at Wylfa on Anglesey and Oldbury-on-Severn in Gloucestershire.

Wylfa has been previously deemed suitable for both a large nuclear development, and a number of “small modular reactors”, which could be built in factories.

None currently exist in the UK.

The Welsh government had set up a company to develop the proposals at Trawsfynydd, called Cwmni Egino, external, but its budget has now been substantially cut.

BBC Wales was told the Welsh government took the decision because of the lack of support from GBN.

Cwmni Egino’s budget stood at £2m in 2023/24.

This financial year it is £500,000.

The budget cut was criticised by Conservative politicians, including Aberconwy MS Janet Finch Saunders but the Welsh government said the budget “recognises the reality of the transition that the company is currently facing”.

GBN’s plans for its first phase of work for small modular reactors proposes to make decisions on investments by 2029, with power on the grid by the mid-2030s.

Trawsfynydd’s existing power station was shut down in 1991, and is in the long process of being decommissioned.

The site is thought by GBN not to have enough space, and would not be available quickly enough for reactors to be set-up.