Moorside: Nuclear power schemes proposed for Cumbria site

EDF said its Moorside proposal would be similar to its plans for Sizewell C in Suffolk

Plans for two nuclear power plants on the site of a previously abandoned project in Cumbria have been submitted.

The previous scheme at Moorside was halted when Japanese multinational Toshiba failed to find a buyer for NuGen, its UK subsidiary running it.

Copeland Council said two consortia had now submitted plans for its "clean energy hub" on the site, adjacent to the Sellafield reprocessing plant.

The Unite union said the plans could lead to a "jobs bonanza".

Regional Secretary Ritchie James said Toshiba's withdrawal from the Moorside site had been "a blow to the economic future of Cumbria".

"The fact that this consortium is looking beyond tomorrow and into a low-carbon future is good news, given that there could be a post-pandemic 25,000 jobs bonanza across the region if this takes off," he said.

The Rolls-Royce-led UK SMR consortium plans a low-carbon power station around a small, light-water reactor

The EDF-led Moorside consortium wants to build two pressurised water reactors of the same type as being constructed at Hinkley Point C in Somerset, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

The council also hopes to attract developers of small and advanced modular reactors, like those proposed by the Rolls-Royce-led UK SMR consortium, to be built nearby.