Case Study: newcleo

The project: 

newcleo is an international Advanced Nuclear Technology company which, until July 2025, had planned to deploy up to 20 reactors in the UK.  

Founded in Italy and with plans for deployment in a number of countries across Europe, its unique proposition is a technology that can reuse spent fuel, closing the fuel cycle and reducing the waste requiring long-term storage in a Geological Disposal Facility (GDF). 

To enable deployment in the UK, newcleo requested access to the UK’s plutonium stores and, when, at the beginning of 2025, government made the decision to put this material ‘beyond use’ and into long term storage, it became increasingly clear that development in the UK made less strategic sense.   

C3 Communications worked with newcleo’s project team from August 2023 until the suspension of the UK project was announced in July 2025. Indeed, at the point newcleo withdrew from the UK, the team was weeks away from a first site announcement.

Our role:

Saranne worked closely with the UK leadership team, primarily as part of the siting team, working to identify, secure and announce a first development site in the UK.  Saranne’s key activities included:  

• stakeholder analysis for each potential location 

• stakeholder engagement advice and strategy 

• leading engagement with regional and local authorities and other key stakeholder groups.

Challenges: 

To successfully introduce newcleo’s innovative technology to the UK, there was a need for significant engagement with government, including input to the development of the new National Policy Statement for Nuclear (EN-7), and responding to the National Grid’s strategic planning consultations.  

At individual site level, it was important for the team to take a three-pronged approach to site selection – technical, commercial and stakeholders to find the ‘Goldilocks site’ as it became known.  

Saranne, third from left, with the newcleo team

C3’s contribution to this approach was to produce a full stakeholder analysis in each location, including research on potential sentiment, as well as providing information on each site’s socio-economic context. In addition, we led on early engagement with stakeholder groups at a number of sites, adopting our trademark approach of openness and honesty from the first engagements. 

“It was fascinating to be so deeply embedded in the team looking to secure newcleo’s first site in the UK.  

“During the two years I worked with the brilliant UK team, we looked in detail at sites across England and Wales, taking a proactive approach to sites beyond those designated in the previous National Policy Statement (NPS) for nuclear.  

“With EN-7 (the new NPS) on the horizon, we know there will be a move to a criteria-led approach to siting, potentially providing developers with additional opportunities and, in line with newcleo’s entrepreneurial approach, we wanted to ensure that we were ahead of the game! 

“Stakeholder engagement is a critical part of the jigsaw of siting any big infrastructure and our experience in understanding stakeholders and sentiment helped shape the preferred sites under consideration. 

“When the decision to suspend the UK project was made in the summer we were just weeks away from a first site announcement – it was a very sad time!” Saranne, Co-Founder C3 Communications