Final investment decision for two reactors due this year.

The company developing the Sizewell C nuclear power station project in the UK has bought the freehold of the land earmarked for the planned facility for an undisclosed sum.

Sizewell C said the deal – involving 895 (362 hectares) acres of land – paves the way for the company to apply for a nuclear site licence for the site on the Suffolk coast in southeast England once the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) completes a safety assessment, it said.

Sizewell C is majority-owned by the UK government – which is investing £2.5bn (€2.9bn, $3.1bn) in the project – with its development partner EDF Energy a minority stakeholder at just under 50%.

A final investment decision (FID) on the plans is due later this year. An FID is the last main outstanding issue to be resolved before construction of the planned facility, which will have two France-supplied EPR units of about 1,630 MW each, can begin.

Preliminary works such as surveying and early-stage earthworks has already begun for the project.