UK regulators have approved a nuclear reactor based on Chinese designs.

The Office for Nuclear Regulation and the Environment Agency ruled that the UK Hualong Pressurised Water Reactor, modeled on a China General Nuclear Group (CGN) plant, is safe, clean and secure.

"It is a credit to the hard work of all the people involved in this assessment, in the UK, China and France, that this work program has been completed on a time that was proposed in January 2017," said Saffron Price Finnerty, the Environment Agency's nuclear regulation manager.

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CGN is working with France's EDF to install the reactor in Bradwell, south England as part of the UK's efforts to reach net zero by 2050. Similar plants first began operating in China and Pakistan last year.

However, Boris Johnson is under pressure from some members of his Conservative Party to block the Chinese company from involvement in infrastructure projects in Britain. 

In 2020, his government ruled that Huawei, which also has its global headquarters in China, should not be allowed to play a central role in new telecommunications networks on security grounds, even though operators said it was the best option.