Toshiba deal paves the way for new nuclear site

A NEW nuclear power station should be up and running in Cumbria by 2024 after Toshiba completed a deal to buy into the NuGen consortium.

The deal, which has been in the pipeline for six months, paves the way for the construction of three new reactors at Moorside, close to Sellafield.

The project is expected to create between 14,000 and 21,000 jobs.

Toshiba has bought a 60% stake in NuGen from the Spanish power giant Iberdrola for around £100m. The other shareholder is French utility GDF Suez.

The new reactors, to be made by Toshiba’s Westinghouse subsidiary, will deliver 3.4GW of new nuclear capacity, enough to power up to six million homes. Once fully operational it is expected to deliver around 7% of the UK’s electricity demand.

A new NuGen management team will be formed lef by chief executive Sandy Rupprecht.

He said: “Moorside is the most exciting new nuclear build project in Europe, without a doubt. We will be taking forward our project in West Cumbria, the UK’s nuclear heartland – and we expect the national and regional economies to benefit extensively from the Moorside development.
 
“We will be working closely with our stakeholders, to keep them informed and included in the process, and we will be working towards building a robust business case for the project. We will also be looking for the best people to come and join us, to support our project.”

The fuel for the reactors will be supplied by the Springfields Fuel Fabrication facility near Preston.