Moorside clean energy hub
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Moorside clean energy hub | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Location | Sellafield, Cumbria |
| Coordinates | 54°25′46″N 3°30′39″W / 54.429566°N 3.510911°W |
| Status | Proposed |
| Owner | Nuclear Decommissioning Authority |
| Nuclear power station | |
| Reactor type | PWR (EPR) and SMR or AMR modular reactors |
| Power generation | |
| Units planned | 2 |
Moorside clean energy hub was a proposal put forward on 30 June 2020 by two consortia, one led by EDF and the other by Rolls-Royce, to create an energy hub that would produce electricity and hydrogen through the use of nuclear power and renewable energy.[1][2]
The hub would have been constructed on the cancelled Moorside nuclear power station site, near Sellafield in Cumbria, which was abandoned by Toshiba in 2018.[3]
In 2020, EDF Energy put forward plans to build two EPR units, replicating Hinkley Point C and Sizewell C, for a total capacity of 3.2 GWe. In parallel, a Rolls-Royce-led UK SMR consortium announced plans for a low-carbon power station around a small, light-water reactor Rolls-Royce SMR linked with renewable energy generation, hydrogen production and battery storage technologies.[4] The Nuclear Industry Association welcomed the proposal for the Moorside site, with the CEO adding, "These are exactly the attributes the country needs to bounce back from COVID-19, deliver jobs, and get us on track to hit Net Zero. Large scale and smaller, next generation technologies have a huge amount to offer working as part of the clean energy hub concept. They can deliver clean electricity and achieve deeper decarbonisation through the creation of hydrogen, clean fuels and district and industrial heating."[5]
On 11 November 2020, the BBC reported that Rolls-Royce has plans to construct up to 16 SMR's in the UK, with a capacity of 440 MW each. In 2019, the company received £18 million to begin designing the modular system, and the BBC claims that the government will provide an additional £200 million for the project as a part of its green plan for economic recovery. Rolls-Royce claims that the project will create 6000 jobs in the midlands and the north over the next 5 years and that the technology will also provide export technologies.[6]
In July 2023, leader of Cumberland Council, Mark Fryer, urged the Minister for Nuclear and Networks Andrew Bowie and the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority to progress the project.[7] In February 2024, Fryer expressed his disappointment that an alternative to the failed EPR reactor proposal, a development to build small modular reactors, would be progressed in Teesside rather than in Cumberland.[8]
