Edited speech by energy minister Michael Fallon MP to the EDF supply chain conference on 9 Dec at the ExCel Conference Centre, London:

These are exciting times, particularly in respect of the UK’s new nuclear programme. Several key milestones in the Hinkley Point C programme have already been reached ... and while state-aid approval from the Commission and third-party financing is still to be secured - the significant progress made has cleared the path for starting the construction of the first new nuclear reactor to be built in the UK for 30yrs.

We have now reached the stage at which EDF Group, with their partners, cannot continue this project alone. This is the point at which the supply chain, working collaboratively, must engage and begin the process of turning the Hinkley Point C approved designs and plans into a physical reality. This is the point at which your expertise, skills and determination will take this project from the drawing board to producing 3.2GW of low-carbon power annually for the UK for over 60 years.

Hinkley represents the first of a whole fleet that will hopefully be deployed in the medium-term so it is essential to take a long-term perspective of the supply chain opportunities that new nuclear brings.

Building safe and secure nuclear power stations that generate carbon-free electricity - and doing it to time and budget - while also enhancing the UK’s industrial and economic landscape, are crucial components underpinning the broad public support for new nuclear power in the UK.

A significant failure in this regard would be to the detriment of our wider programme. The stakes are high and the challenges significant, but the opportunities are great.

It is worth taking a moment to remind ourselves on why new nuclear is important. It is without doubt, a safe, proven low carbon technology that can contribute to the UK’s future energy security, helping to ensure a diverse mix of technology and fuel sources over the long term.

And it will do this in a way that doesn’t pump harmful carbon emissions into the atmosphere.

In addition to helping the UK meet its energy needs and its environmental commitments, new nuclear power stations will create outstanding opportunities for the UK economy both via investment and jobs at Hinkley Point C and the follow-on developments.

Civil nuclear is a key growth industry that provides highly skilled jobs. The full 16GW of new build capacity planned by industry could support an estimated 29,000-41,000 jobs across the nuclear supply chain at the peak of construction activity, with industry investment equating to around £60 billion.

So I have explained why both the new nuclear programme and Hinkley Point C specifically is important to the UK, but why should it be important to you as a potential supplier. Why should you get involved? What’s in it for you?

Why be involved?

Involvement in this project gives you the opportunity take advantage of the entire UK new build programme right from the start. It gives you the opportunity to benefit from Billions of pounds worth of manufacturing contracts for Hinkley Point C alone.

It gives you the opportunity to be identified as part of the ‘baseline’ supply chain for all EPR reactors that may be built in the UK in the future and the opportunity to develop partnerships, both with other UK firms or with overseas companies to expand your offerings and provide new and innovative solutions.

It gives you the opportunity to be recognised as a suitably qualified nuclear supplier, with recent UK new build experience, to nuclear developers with an investment programme for the UK that equates to around 60 Billion pounds in total.

Finally, it gives you the opportunity to use the skills, expertise and partnerships developed on this project to strengthen your ability to look beyond the UK market and access the staggering 1.5 trillion dollars worth of new build investment in new nuclear build predicted globally by the World Nuclear Association by 2025, across circa 30 countries.

Your being here today is evidence of your desire to be involved in this project and beyond. I know that it has taken longer than we all would have wanted to in order to get to this stage.

But we are now at a stage where practical action is essential to ensure that that firms stand ready and able to access the new build opportunities when they arise and win the contracts on the strengths of their bids. In order to do that, companies need confidence that the new build programme will indeed take place.

The recent agreement announced between EdF Group and the UK Government is a clear demonstration to the supply chain of our commitment to new build. In addition, companies need much more information to be disseminated across the supply chain on the nature of the work packages involved, the estimated schedules and timeframe’s associated with projects. There also needs to be strong partnership working between the developers, their top tier contractors and the rest of the supply chain. That is why events like this one today, are so important.

I’ve explained some of the benefits I believe you will gain by being involved in this project and what can be reasonably be expected of the developers and the top tier contractors but what will be expected of you in return? No company can expect to win such a prize without effort as you are all very aware.

So what will be expected of the Hinkley Point C supply chain?

Firstly, and most importantly, we expect the highest standards of safety and compliance to all requirements of the UKs independent nuclear regulator. The British people quite rightly expect, and trust, that the new nuclear programme will not compromise the very high safety record that has built up over decades of safe nuclear operations and decommissioning activity across the UK. The ongoing acceptability of nuclear power in the UK and beyond depends upon this.

You have an obligation to ensure that nothing you do in any of your operations has a detrimental effect on the trust that has been placed on you and the UK nuclear industry.

Secondly, all suppliers must comply with the proscribed codes and standards for this design. I know that these will be the subject of further discussion during the event today, as EDF Energy and their partners provide more detail of these, so I will not dwell on these.

Thirdly, all suppliers must be cost competitive. No company should expect to win a contract on this project unless they are cost competitive. No company can expect to win a contract just because they are British, or indeed, just because they may be part of an established developer supply chain.

This is important not just for the developer but also for the UK taxpayer who as the right to expect, as promised in the 2008 white paper, that nuclear power is cost competitive with other forms of low carbon energy.

These three requirements are simple to explain but, I know are not always simple to achieve so, quite rightly the government will be right alongside you in helping you to achieve these.

The British government is committed to providing the supply chain with the support needed to ensure they have both the capability and capacity to take full benefit from the opportunities I outlined earlier. The newly formed Nuclear Industry Council has been created to ensure both Government and Industry do just that.

Specifically for the manufacturing supply chain this support comes, to name just three of many groups, from;

•The Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre to help both develop the capability of individual firms and to ensure, via use of our world class R & D facility in Rotherham, that we can develop the advanced manufacturing techniques required to support both this and the next generation of reactor designs.

•The Manufacturing Advisory Service to provide tailored business support in order to help you, the manufacturer, streamline your processes, reduce waste, become more energy efficient and generally improve and grow your businesses

•And the National Skills Academy for Nuclear Manufacturing to both identify and develop the highly skilled resource that is the bedrock of the manufacturing supply chain.

Members of these groups are here today, along with many others who will be providing much more information on all the support available to you.

In addition to these I am delighted to announce that early in 2014, up to £13 million will be made available jointly by the UK’s Innovation Agency, the Technology Strategy Board, the Department of Energy and Climate Change and the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority to help UK-based businesses take advantage of the opportunities that arise from the UK’s new nuclear programme.

This is part of a drive to grow a robust and sustainable UK supply chain by developing innovative products and services for the nuclear sector. The initiative will focus on key technology areas such as construction, manufacturing, operation, maintenance and decommissioning & waste. This funding competition will open on the 17th March 2014.

Finally I want to strongly welcome the earlier announcement made by Humphrey Cadoux-Hudson on the launch of the Nuclear Supply Chain SME Partnership. Developing strong partnerships and regular, shared communications across the supply chain will be critical to the successful delivery of the UK’s Nuclear programme and I believe that this group will be a vital component in achieving this.

The Hinkley Point C project is a fantastic opportunity for you to become part of the firm foundations on which the UK’s new nuclear renaissance will be built.

GSK's manufacturing site in Irvine, Scotland is widely regarded as a leading example of what can be achieved in the areas of low-carbon manufacturing and overall sustainability.

The largest energy and water consumer of the pharmaceuticals group’s 80 manufacturing sites worldwide, GSK Irvine is well on the way to reaching its ambitious goals of coming off the national electricity grid, and zero carbon from energy by 2020.

To achieve these targets, the Scottish operation has, since 2009, developed a sustainability programme involving the engagement of all staff and the appointment of 'energy 'Kaizens' to research and instigate energy-saving initiatives.

"The site produces two main pharmaceutical products, 6APA and 'clav' blends," explains Mark Dunn, sustainable manufacturing manager at GSK Irvine. "These operations are both targeted within our sustainability programme, via focus teams within each production area and for the services supplied from the utilities and wastewater treatment areas."

Around 50 projects have so far been implemented under the sustainability programme, which has delivered a 24% reduction in carbon from energy over the last five years.

Many of these involved rigorous measuring and monitoring to identify improvements that have already led to the implementation of steam traps, IE3 motors, heat recovery, HVAC, LEDs and combined heat and power (CHP).

Currently £20 million is being invested in two major projects: wind turbines to supply a projected 12% of electricity needs; and anaerobic digestion of fermentation waste that will produce methane to power a CHP plant and take wastewater treatment off-grid.

According to Dunn, the AD project is currently under construction and will be commissioned from January 2014.

"Commissioning to full output takes several months so full environmental and energy benefits will be delivered from the second quarter of 2014," he said.

Looking further ahead, Dunn said new targets for GSK Irvine range from "improvements in efficiency of well-established technologies to identifying local sustainable fuel sources that can be applied to energy generation on site.

"This extends to assessing the carbon footprint of alternative techniques for conversion of our raw material into the final product."

Though he declined to identify specific process technologies under review, the sustainable manufacturing leader concluded: "GSK Irvine is continuing to review all potential opportunities towards meeting its energy and carbon goals by 2020."