Northwest powers up nuclear ambitions
With the government throwing its weight behind a major expansion of the UK's nuclear industry, the Northwest is set to play a vital role at the heart of the country's energy supply.
The region has a long history of nuclear science engineering, from John Dalton's atomic theory in the early 19th century, through Rutherford's pioneering atomic research one hundred years later, to the world's first commercial nuclear power plant, commissioned in 1956, at Calder Hall in Cumbria.
From the 1960s onwards, the Northwest has been at the centre of the development of the UK's nuclear infrastructure. It is home to some of the worlds most advanced nuclear research and development facilities. Its reputation for cutting-edge nuclear expertise has earned it global recognition for its specialist skills in nuclear research, engineering, decommissioning and environmental remediation.
With its support for a new generation of nuclear power stations, the government plans to encourage companies to build nuclear plants on, or near, existing reactors. It is hoped that the first will be completed before 2020. French energy giant EDF has already announced its intention to build four nuclear plants in the UK, with the first scheduled for completion before 2017, while Germany-based E.On and British Gas have also expressed interest.
England's Northwest will be integral to this new phase of nuclear investment. The region carries out all aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle, from uranium enrichment to power generation and waste management, and around 300 Northwest companies play an active part in the nuclear supply chain, including major names such as AMEC, NUKEM, Atkins, Jordan and Springfield Fuels. Approximately half of the UK's 50,000 nuclear employees are employed in Cheshire, Cumbria and Lancashire.
In West Cumbria, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) is responsible for the decommissioning and clean-up of the UK's civil nuclear legacy. It is expected to handle contracts worth more than £2 billion per year over the next two decades. It owns the Sellafield site, one of the most complex and compact nuclear sites in Europe. Sellafield employs around 12,000 people and has a major engineering design base at Risley, Cheshire, which employs a further 2,000 people.
Sellafield is also home to the British Technology Centre, which houses the UK's largest concentration of nuclear scientists and engineers. This £250 million purpose-built facility employs 500 staff. The government recently declared it to be the focal point of a UK 'National Nuclear Laboratory', capable of handling high and medium activity wastes and extensive chemical analysis and testing facilities.
As well as its pioneering nuclear past and its thriving nuclear present, the Northwest is investing heavily to secure a dynamic nuclear future. Currently under construction at Lillyhall in Cumbria is a £19m Nuclear Academy, set to be the country's leading centre for education, training and skills in the nuclear sector when it opens in autumn 2008. It will be the flagship of the National Skills Academy for Nuclear, which will operate a regional network of training clusters around the country.
There's also a sizeable, world class nuclear research base in the Northwest. This includes the Tyndall Nuclear Research Centre at the University of Central Lancashire, an MSc in Nuclear Decommissioning at Lancaster University, epidemiological and radiological expertise at Westlakes Research Institute in Cumbria and the recently established Dalton Nuclear Institute (DNI). The DNI is a new centre for nuclear science teaching and academic research which combines the former radiochemistry and materials science departments of Manchester University. Together with the NDA, the DNI is investing £20 million in a research and teaching facility in West Cumbria.
As the UK gears up for a future in which nuclear power is an essential part of the country's energy supply, few regions have as much to offer as England's Northwest.
