Hello

Opportunities abound in the South West

The South West nuclear industry has been featured in the news recently with a visit from the UK’s energy secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng MP, to Hinkley Point C, following the recent approval of the Nuclear Financing Bill, which ministers hope will make the financing of new nuclear attractive to British funds and institutional investors. You can read more at the link below.

In other news, there is optimism for the opportunities with SMRs in the UK as Rolls-Royce has launched a competition between regions in England and Wales to be the main factory location, building a fleet of small nuclear reactors.

The competition features a planned investment of up to £200 million and the creation of up to 200 direct jobs. Whilst two named areas in Wales are believed to be in consideration, no news has yet been released for site options in England. Which bodes the question: why not the South West?

The region benefits from the highest density of nuclear sites in the UK and is home to the headquarters of more than 180 nuclear-related organisations. It is at the forefront of research and skill building, through bodies like the South West Nuclear Hub, fuelling innovation through NUCLEATE and inspiring tomorrow’s industry leaders through the National College for Nuclear.

The South West also has a new breed of energy production proposed at Oldbury, alongside four decommissioning sites and a pipeline of defence contracts at Devonport worth tens of billions of pounds. These centres, and others, present vivid examples of the innovation and collaboration taking place across the region.

If you’re a subscriber to Nuclear Engineering International (NEI) Magazine you will enjoy seeing the South West leading an article on decommissioning opportunities, supported by Stefan Cecchini, Vice-Chairman of Nuclear South West, in this month’s edition.

The article is backed by national guidance on decommissioning, released in July 2019, ‘Nuclear provision: the cost of cleaning up Britain’s nuclear legacy’, offering direction on the short and long-term opportunities decommissioning offers to the UK’s sector and sector supporting businesses.

The article provides an important insight: decommissioning offers numerous, lucrative and long-term opportunities for private investment. We believe those opportunities are on our doorstep.

-----------------------------