‘Major milestone’ for Cumbrian nuclear with new £200m investment

Key commercial terms have been agreed with Japanese technology giant Toshiba and its partner GDF SUEZ for the construction of a new nuclear power station in West Cumbria. Toshiba signed […]

Key commercial terms have been agreed with Japanese technology giant Toshiba and its partner GDF SUEZ for the construction of a new nuclear power station in West Cumbria.

Toshiba signed a preliminary £102 million deal to buy a 60% stake in the NuGen nuclear venture in January and has pledged to invest £200 million as part of a new agreement.

The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) has agreed to extend a land option agreement with the developers, which reaffirms the consortium’s commitment to build three reactors at Moorside.

NuGen plans to use reactors made by Toshiba-owned Westinghouse, which are expected to come online by 2024 and produce 3.4GW of nuclear capacity – enough to power up to six million homes.

DECC said the agreement is a “major milestone” for the new nuclear project, which is expected to create “at least £10 billion worth of investment” – and as many as 20,000 jobs.

Prime Minister David Cameron said: “We can announce the huge investment being made by Toshiba and Westinghouse – over £200 million – into the rebuilding of the British nuclear industry, specifically in the North West of our country.”

The UK and Japan agreed to collaborate in the areas of nuclear, energy efficiency, renewable energy and climate change during Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s two-day visit to London.

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