Nuclear General

Nuclear Cumbria – Introduction

It is a widely held assumption that new nuclear developments are the only way to provide enough jobs in West Cumbria in the coming years. We believe this is incorrect. Here we argue that there is ample scope for West Cumbria to grow and develop a clean, green economy built on the principles of sustainability instead.

Although West Cumbria is where the nuclear industry is located in Cumbria, its impacts on the wider Cumbrian economy are recognised across the county as a whole. For example, at the ‘Cumbria 2012 and Beyond’ conference in November 2012, Carlisle MP John Stevenson talked about how “Construction of a new nuclear plant [at Sellafield] would give a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to transform our county, providing growth right across Cumbria”.⁽¹⁾

The Labour MP for Copeland, Jamie Reed, is wholly supportive of new nuclear developments and goes so far as to say “there is no Plan B for the West Cumbrian economy without nuclear support”.⁽²⁾ He was speaking at a ‘fringe’ meeting during the October 2012 Labour Party Conference sponsored by Britain’s Energy Coast  and Nuclear Management Partners. Plan A is the West Cumbria Economic Blueprint⁽³⁾ put forward by Britain’s Energy Coast – a public/private partnership made up of local authorities and nuclear groups in the area. This estimated the possibility of creating a further 3,000 jobs over the next 15 years. Reed says Cumbria’s plans “need to include three new nuclear reactors (on land just north of Sellafield at Moorside), a new Mox [plutonium fuel fabrication] facility at Sellafield, and an underground repository [for burying nuclear waste]”.⁽⁴⁾

In a recent Britain’s Energy Coast newsletter, Copeland Borough Council Leader, Elaine Woodburn says she is hoping for a new plutonium fuel fabrication plant, which she calls Mox 2, to be built at Sellafield and she certainly wants new reactors to be built. While she admits that Copeland shouldn’t be “putting all our eggs in one basket” she sees future economic development coming on the back of more nuclear investment and maximising the opportunities this will present.⁽⁵⁾

But the prospects for new nuclear reactors at Sellafield are not encouraging. A company called NuGen,  is currently planning to build up to 3.6GW of new nuclear capacity on a site called Moorside, which is immediately adjacent to Sellafield. NuGen was originally owned by the French company GDF Suez, the Spanish company Iberdrola, and Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE). In September 2011 SSE pulled out and sold its 25% stake to GDF Suez and Iberdrola.⁽⁶⁾ Then in January 2014 Toshiba-owned Westinghouse Electric Company agreed to buy all Iberdrola’s stake and another 10% from GDF-Suez giving it a 60% controlling stake.⁽⁷⁾

Cumbria County Council’s decision to pull out of the search for a Geological Disposal Facility (GDF) site for burying nuclear waste was unanimously upheld at a meeting of the Council scrutiny committee on 19th February 2013.⁽⁸⁾ Councillor Stewart Young, Leader of the Council’s Labour Group (and leader of the Council since May 2013) argued among other things that a repository would not in fact bring many jobs. The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) estimates that the average annual employment over 140 years of operation until closure would be 555.⁽⁹⁾ The Government consulted on a new set of proposals in September 2013 which looked like a thinly disguised attempt to change the rules so a new site selection process could start in West Cumbria despite opposition from the County Council.⁽¹⁰⁾

As to the building of a new MOX plant at Sellafield, the NDA is clearly in no hurry to do this, and the question of what to do with the UK’s plutonium stocks held at Sellafield is still under review.⁽¹¹⁾ NDA spokesperson Adrian Simper recently told the BBC “we don’t have any reactors that we could sell it to … that’s why we’re not proposing that we start building a MoX Plant this afternoon … only when new reactors are becoming available and the marketplace has confidence in new nuclear build will there be the opportunity to have the conversations about the use of MoX fuel.”⁽¹²⁾

The nuclear basket is beginning to look like a pretty uncertain place to be putting Cumbria’s eggs. If Cumbria is dependent for its future economic well-being on the nuclear industry, the County could be heading for a very bleak future. Since some of Cumbria’s leading politicians seem to be abdicating their responsibility by not considering alternative economic pathways, West Cumbria and North Lakes Friends of the Earth commissioned this website to begin sketching out what a Plan B might look like. We think this provides an inspiring vision of a sustainable economic policy for the future of Cumbria.

Nuclear Influence in Cumbria

Under the Energy Act 2004, the NDA is expected to give “encouragement and other support to activities that benefit the social and economic life of communities living near” its nuclear sites. Doubts have been expressed about whether this type of funding is good for the community and good for the economy. There is already a feeling of dependency on the industry for well-paid jobs and training, but there is also a feeling that many local social facilities and events would be unviable without sponsorship by the NDA and Sellafield. There is a sense of unease at this comprehensive dependency on the nuclear industry, not just for jobs, but as the provider of social existence and identity.⁽¹³⁾

During 2011/12 the NDA made grants totalling £7m across the UK in accordance with its socio-economic remit. In Cumbria, the Sellafield Ltd Socio-Economic Development Plan focuses on “the comparative advantages afforded by the nuclear sector [to] provide a springboard to regenerate the area”. Over recent years the NDA and Sellafield Ltd have concentrated on the delivery of the Energy Coast Masterplan, which says the prospects of developing the nuclear industry in Cumbria have significantly improved since the launch of the Masterplan in July 2008. In 2009/10 £1.5m was given to the West Cumbria Development Fund and almost £0.5m to West Lakes Renaissance.⁽¹⁴⁾

Britain’s Energy Coast (BEC) receives funding from the NDA, Sellafield Ltd and Nuclear Management Partners.⁽¹⁵⁾ In September 2012, the NDA’s socio economic programme gave a grant of £1m to BEC, which then enabled it to secure a grant of £5.6m from the Government’s Regional Growth Fund. This allowed BEC to offer grants to businesses of any size, including start-ups for investment in fixed assets such as land, buildings, plant and equipment as well as Research and Development. The programme is targeted at businesses involved in manufacturing, processing, engineering and fabrication activities with special emphasis on businesses in West Cumbria’s nuclear and renewable energy supply chain, and tourism attractions.⁽¹⁶⁾ In February 2013 BEC chief executive Steven Szostak revealed that just one company had been given money from fund – a grant of £45,000. He made an impassioned plea to a meeting of the Britain’s Energy Coast Business Cluster for more people to come forward and claim the money or it could be lost.⁽¹⁷⁾

Other controversial funding decisions included a three year funding package for Cottage Hospitals;⁽¹⁸⁾ funding for the lighthouse community centre in Haverigg,⁽¹⁹⁾ there was even a suggestion in 2007 that a council staff position could be partly funded by the NDA.⁽²⁰⁾

No-one wants to look a ‘gift horse in the mouth’, but if this funding is fostering a nuclear dependency and stifling innovation and the development of alternative strategies, then we need to question whether it is the best way of funding regeneration in Cumbria.