New nuclear in West Cumbria /
West Cumbria has 50 years experience in nuclear power generation. The Sellafield site is Europe's most complex nuclear facility and hosted the world's first civil nuclear power station.
This rich legacy provides Cumbria with unparalleled expertise combined with world class scientific, education and training facilities.
However, as the suns sets on many of Sellafield's historic facilities, the region will start to feel the effects of one of its largest employers scaling down its operations. This reduction in employment is forecast to take place over the medium term, so it is important that we take action today.
West Cumbria faces many challenges: securing new jobs, retaining existing skills and providing a secure and prosperous place for our young people. It is vital that opportunities are created to keep the upcoming generation in West Cumbria, working together to build a better future for everyone.
Whilst the challenges for West Cumbria are great, the opportunities are greater. For example, the prospect of building new power stations represents significant opportunities for the region:
To secure its position as a European leader in nuclear power generationTo realise West Cumbria's aspiration to become Britain's Energy CoastTM
More specifically, the long term and beneficial consequences for West Cumbria include:
- The creation of new jobs
- To construct the new power stations
- To improve the infrastructure needed to support new nuclear power stations
- To operate the station throughout its 30+ year lifetime
- To provide a wide range of support services
- To support our young people by offering apprenticeships
- Attracting ongoing investment
- In education and training: work in progress includes new facilities Energus (the Nuclear Skills Academy), the Dalton Cumbria facility and the University of Cumbria
- In roads and infrastructure
- In hospitals
The opportunity to provide expertise to support other nuclear projects globally
Click here to view the presentation slides from the Public Meeting held on 18th March 2009.
