Plans to build a new nuclear power station in Cumbria have suffered a set-back following Toshiba’s decision to wind up NuGen, the company set up to build the plant.
NuGen planned to develop a new-generation nuclear power station of up to 3.6GW on land in Moorside, West Cumbria at a cost of around £10bn.
Toshiba became the sole owner of NuGen in 2017 when it bought Engie’s share in the company, an event triggered by Toshiba subsidiary Westinghouse Electric Company filing for bankruptcy in the US.
Toshiba has since invited new investors to participate in NuGen but doesn’t foresee a sale of the company during the current financial year. The Regulated Asset Base (RAB model), a potential new policy framework from government to finance nuclear new build, is also thought to have deterred new investors into Moorside.
“After considering the additional costs entailed in continuing to operate NuGen, Toshiba recognises that the economically rational decision is to withdraw from the UK nuclear power plant construction project,” the company said.
In a statement Toshiba added it will start the winding-up process by January 31, 2019.
Reacting to today’s news Justin Bowden, GMB national secretary, said:“The British government has blood on its hands as the final sad but predictable nail is banged into the coffin of Toshiba’s jinxed jaunt into nuclear power.
“Relying in this way on foreign companies for our country’s essential energy needs was always irresponsible.
“Add to that the multiple opportunities to step in and take control, that were missed or ignored.
“In the wreckage that passes for a joined-up UK energy policy, the question now is whether government has finally learned the mistakes of Moorside?”
The Moorside site is owned by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and remains a site designated by government for nuclear new build.
Commenting on the announcement, Dr Dame Sue Ion DBE FREng FRS, Honorary President of the National Skills Academy for Nuclear said: “It is tragic that ceding of control of a vital part of the UK’s energy infrastructure overseas has, through events outside the UK’s control, led to a stall in our aspirations as a nation to replace the generating capacity of our retiring nuclear fleet of reactors – critical for decarbonising the UK economy. It is also devastating for the employees of NuGen who have worked so hard for the past decade to deliver a new nuclear project which would have delivered energy for generations to come.
“A lack of clarity from the UK on the funding model and its timing for developing new nuclear power capacity has contributed to a reluctance to invest by the private sector. There is now significant uncertainty over the intentions for the valuable Moorside site in Cumbria. It is vital that the impetus, knowledge and know-how generated by NuGen are not lost, but are built on as the UK drives towards a future funding model for nuclear power plants.”
Messrs Ion and Bowden appear to have once again fallen for the fanciful idea/illusion that the purpose of Governments of all persuasions is to protect the future interests of all 60+ million of us -and all that such entails. Over-lay on that error driven by delusions of grandeur, the economics of the mad-house, personal advancement and greed, accounting practices which have not altered and improved since they were first ‘set-up’ in Georgian times for a basically agricultural society..and the back-ground reasons to all these idiotic changes start to become very clear. Just think how many NuGens we could have built for the £40 billion (or is it 400) given to those who destroyed our finances. Lunatics, asylum…
It does seem that successive governments have, over the decades, shirked their responsibility and not given any thought or attention to nuclear power or the needs of electricity consumers; possibly willing to believe what lobbyists offer as solutions, because they are unwilling to think about the issues (eg believing that one purveyor of power or another is offering a true solution or an affordable one).
Recently I saw someone quoting that 80% of the cost of nuclear power stations was not in the non-nuclear island; given the issues that have involved big construction infrastructures (CrossRail/HS2/Carillion) perhaps it would be best to think of smaller units.
Such smaller units could be built more speedily and cheaply (for instance high temperature reactors could use off the shelf gas turbine generator equipment) and the government could set up a department for infrastructure that would keep and nurture the skills and knowledge and develop prototypes that could be used to deliver affordable nuclear.
I believe that (UK) governments often just wring their hands and wait for a business to sort things out for them (cf China or Korea); we need an Infrastructure Minister that makes sure that we have the Infrastructure (including the technology) we need; I am sure there are most of the skills in West Cumbria – to design/build a prototype (like they did for the AGR – but a SMR would likely be smaller and cheaper).
“Relying in this way on foreign companies for our country’s essential energy needs was always irresponsible.” Yes – and if there are no companies whatsoever then the Government should NOW create the required entity – for the public weal.
PS The US Army ran a small nitrogen cooled nuclear reactor in the 60s – so (as air is mostly nitrogen) a standard gas turbine could be used…
What a fiasco !
At this rate we can expect the lights across the UK to start going out soon. I agree with Julian Spence that a complete rethink is required about how we deliver Nuclear power in this country. The big mega projects cost too much and don’t deliver in an economic way. Distributed power generation using SMRs for our baseline needs minimises the risks, doesn’t place all our capabilities in one big, expensive, strategic target and is environmentally friendly.
Unfortunately our government(s) have proven time and again that they have no vision and no competence in providing for our power needs. We really are doomed.
I am not sure what skills remain in that area of Cumbria but I was speculating that, as they have in the past built a prototype gas cooled reactor they might have skills relevant for building and developing a smaller gas cooled reactor; focussing on rapid and affordable manufacture (for instance for the heat exchangers and pressure vessels – using the more appropriate modern technologies).
I am not convinced that the SMR concept of building everything in a factory is a “silver bullet” but , as the chemical process industry has found scalable arrays of small (chemical) reactors eliminates scaling up issues.
If those employed at Moorside are happy to work with inert gases (such as Helium and Nitrogen) then many of the material issues fly out the window and off-the-shelf gas turbine from Rolls-Royce would work fine with nitrogen (most air is nitrogen)
So if the Civil servants want high temperature reactors (whether for plutonium/waste burning or power) then they need to bite the bullet and help set up a company to provide the technology in the UK – most likely involving those at Moorside .
Perhaps Justin Bowden could be proactive in pushing for technology development.??
PS Rolls-Royce used to make some high efficiency high integrity heat exchangers too…