Copeland MP Trudy Harrison has welcomed the news that Rolls-Royce SMR has secured funding to develop small nuclear reactors – and said she will continue to lobby for Copeland to be the location of the new development.
Rolls-Royce SMR announced today that it will invest £195 million of private funding across three years in the project, with a further £210 million pledged from the Government, as announced by Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng in support of the “largest engineering collaboration the UK has ever seen”.
Mrs Harrison said: “SMRs will deliver clean, low-carbon, affordable energy and will play a significant role in our net zero ambitions.
“Ever since I was elected in 2017, I have campaigned strongly to have SMRs located in Copeland, and following today’s significant announcement, I will continue to take the case forward with colleagues in Government, industry and the local authorities.
“Our community knows more about nuclear power than anywhere else in Europe, and we have a deep talent pool with a track record of safety and deliverability, and Copeland should be at the forefront of this new and exciting development.”
Rolls-Royce said: “The funding will enable the business to secure grant funding of £210 million from UK Research and Innovation funding, first announced by the Prime Minister in The Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution.
“Today’s announcement is another step towards the delivery of the Government’s net zero strategy and its 10-point plan.”
It said nine-tenths of an individual Rolls-Royce SMR power plant will be built or assembled in factory conditions and around 80 per cent could be delivered by a UK supply chain, with much of the venture’s investment is expected to be focused in the North.
The company added that a single Rolls-Royce SMR power station would occupy the footprint of two football pitches and power around a million homes.
Warren East, Rolls-Royce CEO, added: “The business could create up to 40,000 jobs, through UK deployment and export enabled growth. As a major shareholder in Rolls-Royce SMR, we will continue to support its path to successful deployment.”
Chief executive of Rolls-Royve SMR is Tom Samson, who is best known in Cumbria for leading Nugen, which planned to build a new nuclear power station on the Moorside site.
Last year, he announced the launch of a new independent company, Guardian Power, with the focus on developing SMRs.
