A LEADING Whitehaven councillor has said that plans are moving along well to build a “clean energy hub” on the Moorside site near Sellafield.

The idea was first introduced last year for the EDF-led Moorside consortium to build two pressurised water sites in West Cumbria after Japanese company Toshiba failed to find a buyer for NuGen when previous plans failed to come to fruition.

David Moore, a Copeland Conservative councillor who has close links to the plans, said that work within the consortium is progressing well.

He said: “We are progressing along with the EDF consortium, we are still trying to develop a case and a plan for them to come here to Sellafield.

“But we are also working with UKSMR as well to look at a plan for the site, so it would be the small modular reactors plus perhaps large scale reactors running alongside them.

“There’s been a lot of interest from EDF, they are now trying to put a case together to finance such a project so they are pushing forward with that.”

The council is also progressing with the Rolls Royce-led UKSMR consortium to bring their new small scale reactors to the county when they are built in the near future.

Mr Moore said: “We have been working with UKSMR for a little while now but we think that now is the appropriate time to bring it forward.

“They are looking now for appropriate sites and we think Sellafield should be one of these major sites.”

The plans would be instrumental in bringing jobs as well as preserving those already within the county, for which the nuclear industry has played a vital role over many decades.

Copeland MP Trudy Harrison is keen for the plans to go ahead as she sees the industry being fundamental for the area.

She said: “Nuclear technologies have a key role to play in our clean energy future and the vision for a Clean Energy Hub around Moorside shows how the whole industry including our local communities and supply chains to ready to deliver a Green Industrial Revolution for the UK.

“Nuclear is what Copeland does best and I am continuing to work closely with the Moorside Consortium as well as the Nuclear Delivery Group and Government on projects across robotics, fusion, decommissioning, hydrogen, and next generation reactors.”