Electricité de France SA is pushing to start construction of its proposed 3.2-GW Sizewell C nuclear plant in England in late 2021, targeting a fast start to keep costs down in the wake of another new nuclear power station of the same size being built in the U.K. that is over budget and behind schedule.

The French state-owned utility said Oct. 17 that it will hold a third and final consultation round on the Sizewell C project in January 2019 and submit planning applications in early 2020 to pave the way for construction. The plant in Suffolk comprises two next-generation European Pressurized Water reactors and is a follow-on project to Hinkley Point C in Somerset, where EDF said work is on track to finish the 4,500-tonne concrete platform on which the reactor buildings sit in 2019.

By being a close copy of Hinkley Point and starting construction within five years of that plant's groundbreaking in 2016, the cost of Sizewell C could be reduced by a fifth, said Simone Rossi, CEO of U.K. subsidiary EDF Energy PLC.

"We have a great opportunity at Sizewell C to build a replica which would allow us to reduce the design costs," Rossi said in a statement. "It would also reduce the development costs and we would profit from a skilled and experienced supply chain as well as lower qualification costs and paperwork. All of that means a reduction in construction costs of about 20%, which will eventually flow through to consumers.

"The further we wait, the lower the construction benefits will be because the supply chain may not be the same and skills could be forgotten," he added.