Nuclear fusion power plant bid submitted
LEADING figures behind the West’s bid to host a nuclear fusion power plant said they are excited after formally submitting their proposal to Government.
If successful it means the region could be home to a cutting-edge technology park and power plant designed to generate climate-friendly electricity on the site of two former nuclear power plants.
The Western Gateway partnership has formally nominated land at Berkeley in Gloucestershire and Oldbury in South Gloucestershire.
The UK Atomic Energy Authority had asked for submissions to host the so-called STEP plant (Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production) and the West bid will face competition from elsewhere in the country.
Western Gateway Chair Katherine Bennett said: “I am genuinely excited by this nomination and what STEP Fusion could bring to the Western Gateway. We have a phenomenal skills and supply chain base here in Western England and South Wales and assets that are unrivalled anywhere else in the UK.”
Following the nomination of sites, the UKAEA will go through a selection process resulting in a shortlist of three for submission to the Secretary of State for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy. The final selection is expected to take place around the end of 2022.
If the West bid wins the plant and associated businesses, training and technical facilities would be located on land at former nuclear power station sites at Oldbury-on-Severn and Berkeley.
It would be expected to be operational by 2040, with much of the supporting ‘eco-system’ developed in the next two to 10 years.
Kevin Hamblin chief executive of the SGS College Group, which owns the Gloucestershire Science and Technology Park at Berkeley, said: “STEP is really about the future and the next generation, both in terms of employment and skills, but also for the creation of low carbon technologies to fight climate change. The park is already home to projects working in this space so it fits perfectly into that developing ecosystem.”
Phil Smith, CEO of Business West, said the region was well-suited to host the plant, which could bring billions of pounds of investment and thousands of jobs.
He said: “The region has always been at the forefront of innovation in power generation.
“We have abundant land, not far from the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy in Oxfordshire, which is already identified in national and local policy as suitable for power generation development. It’s surrounded by a hotbed of expertise in high technology digital, materials and manufacturing industries.”