A NEW dry fuel store for Sizewell B has been given the go-ahead by the Government, it was announced today.

Charles Hendry, energy minister, has given consent for the store, which will house spent fuel from 2015.

The application follows a six-week public consultation held by the company and a consultation period with the county and local authorities and Department of Energy and Climate Change.

Station owner EDF said building work will start on the dry fuel store in the summer of 2012 and is expected to take about 18 months to construct.

The building will be located on Sizewell B’s land and work will be confined to the station’s existing site.

Sizewell B station director Jim Crawford said: “After a thorough consultation period we are pleased to be able to start work on building a new storage facility on site for spent fuel at Sizewell B.

“This is a mature technology that is widely used around the world to safely store spent fuel.

“We will keep our local community updated on the build schedule for the project and work hard to limit any impact the project may have.”

Under the current arrangements, spent fuel from Sizewell B’s reactor is stored in a fuel storage pond, which is expected to provide capacity until 2015.

The new dry fuel store will provide capacity for the station’s spent fuel from 2015 and will be located on the existing site.