This week, Andy Bates, our nuclear lead at Western Gateway, attended the nuclear industry’s annual showcase event, the Nuclear Industry Association Conference and Dinner. He shares below why this event comes at such a pivotal time for both the Western Gateway and the Government’s ambitions for a decarbonised economy.
We are on the cusp of a new nuclear revolution in South Wales and Western England and it was great to be showcasing our achievements at this week’s Nuclear Industry Association Annual Conference and Dinner. With over £100m invested into our Severn Edge Low Carbon Energy Park, the Western Gateway’s ability to bring together local authorities and business to focus on creating opportunities and decarbonising our economy is more important than ever, even as the Partnership itself faces a critical consultation on whether Government should continue to contribute to its funding.
As a secondee into the Partnership for the past four years, it has been a privilege to be a part of the incredible cross-border, cross party, collaboration in support of new nuclear. Net zero needs nuclear and the fact we are months away from an announcement on a contract for a historic, first-of-a-kind, Small Modular Reactor (SMR) energy plant at Oldbury is testament to the commitment of the partnership, its communities and the industry players who have rallied behind the investment opportunity.
We heard a clear message from the Secretary of State Rt. Hon. Ed Miliband MP that ‘we need all the power sources at our disposal, and nuclear has an essential role to play in the future age of clean electricity’. He noted that the SMR competition ‘offers a massive industrial opportunity for Britain’ and ‘that Great British Nuclear has started contract negotiations with the four companies shortlisted in the SMR competition, and final decisions will be made in Spring’.
With the four remaining technologies in the GBN SMR competition all represented at NIA2024 on Thursday (Holtec, GE Hitachi, Rolls Royce SMR, Westinghouse), there was a real feeling at the event that nuclear is once again a major part of the UK’s future energy security strategy. I got to speak with the Rolls-Royce SMR team who are actively engaged in the future of the Berkeley Power Station site alongside Chiltern Vital Berkeley and University of Bristol, shaping a new internationally-significant Science Park for low carbon energy technology. Rolls Royce recently announced they are investing in the Cardiff City region as part of the UK Government AUKUS nuclear submarine programme and have publicly voiced their support for the new Cardiff Parkway station – backed by the Western Gateway Rail Deal.
My hosts for the evening were Westinghouse, global leaders in nuclear fuel and energy generation with their AP1000 pressurised water reactor technology, and now with their AP300 offering, are very much in consideration for Oldbury, as part of the GBN SMR competition. Great conversations with an incredibly experienced team and I wish them all the very best for 2025.
The role of Western Gateway is not to pick the winners but to create the right conditions for new nuclear in the UK to thrive and grow, at pace. We are working in partnership with our communities, politicians, academia and a whole range of industry players to ensure that once a decision is reached by Great British Nuclear in the Spring of 2025, the Western Gateway Partnership can accelerate delivery with ready-made supply-chains and the ramping up of the skills base. When my colleague James Cooke joined EDF and Sec Newgate at an event in Bristol a few weeks back, the panel highlighted that there are already 27,000 nuclear jobs supported across South West England alone and that is set to grow with these exciting and nationally-significant investments.
Investments of this scale and magnitude can only be delivered within an environment of expansive but governed collaboration and the Western Gateway model, as demonstrated with the £100M+ investment at Severn Edge (Oldbury & Berkeley), has shown the way. I hope that this will be recognised as critical to the delivery phase and very much look forward to further announcements in the New Year.
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