Plans for the 3.4GW Moorside nuclear power station are being promoted by NuGeneration Ltd (NuGen), which is 60% owned by Toshiba of Japan and 40% by GDF Suez of France.
This week NuGen signed a co-operation agreement with HM Treasury to promote financing for the project and setting out a process to enable access to the UK Guarantee Scheme.
NuGen and HM Treasury have agreed to co-operate to see how government guarantees can support arrangement of external project finance for Moorside, set to be the UK’s largest new nuclear power station project.
Chancellor of the exchequer George Osborne said: “We’re happy to have signed this agreement with NuGen. Investment in a new generation of civil nuclear power is part of our long term economic plan to provide Britain with the energy it needs for decades to come.
“We’ve already done a lot to support new investment through our changes to the planning regime, the generic design approval process and reforms to the electricity market. The Guarantee Scheme is another way in which we can help companies to make the huge investment that building new nuclear power involves.”
NuGen chief executive Sandy Rupprecht said: “The signing of this co-operation agreement with HM Treasury is another demonstration of NuGen’s forward momentum as we power forward with our Moorside project in West Cumbria.”
The Westinghouse AP1000 reactor is a pressurised water reactor. Eight are currently under construction around the world.
The first Moorside reactor is expected to be connected to the grid by the end of 2024 – with all three providing 3.4 GW of power by the end of 2026.
NuGen expects to have the full range of licences and permissions in place for the development, ahead of a final investment decision in 2018.
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