According to a report by the Reuters news agency, Anurag Gupta — director and global lead for power infrastructure at the KPMG consultancy — says that a range of mini nuclear-power plants could help solve the UK’s “looming power crunch”.

So-called small modular reactors (SMRs) that use existing or new nuclear technology would each be able to produce around a tenth of the electricity created by large-scale projects, such as the new reactor proposed for Hinkley Point.

These mini plants, with parts small enough to be transported on trucks and barges, could be assembled in 12 months or less — about a tenth of the time it takes to build some larger plants.

Mr Gupta said: “The real promise of SMRs is their modularisation and their straightforward design, meaning consistent standards plus predictable costs and delivery time-scales.”

Mike Tynan, director of the Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre, said: “From a technical perspective, there is no reason why you would not be able to make a smaller version of an already commercially viable nuclear technology.”