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Energy: Draft National Policy Statement for Nuclear Power Generation (EN-6)

I do not want to delay the Committee, but perhaps I may make this point. It is my understanding that tenders are being prepared for the initial civil engineering work. We have to define what we mean by the length of the construction period. If you are dealing with a greenfield site, there is obviously that much more to do. But, in a number of UK sites, specialised civil engineering work can start long before the planning process and it would not in any way prejudice the outcome of that. That is why when we talk about the 44- month and 48-month periods, we could be referring to the reactor construction rather than a lot of the earth-moving and initial improvement work.