17 Feb (NucNet): The UK and France are to sign a landmark agreement in Paris today to cooperate on civil nuclear energy, paving the way for the construction of a new generation of power plants in the UK.
Deals between British and French companies – worth more than 500 million pounds (about 600 million euro) – will allow work to start on new facilities, creating more than 1,500 jobs.
NucNet confirmed this morning that the deals would include:
• A £100 million contract with a construction consortium to prepare the Hinkley Point nuclear site in Somerset for construction of two European Pressurised Water Reactors (EPRs).
• A £15 million training campus at Bridgewater in Somerset to train the next generation of nuclear workers.
• A deal with Rolls Royce for key components that could be worth potentially up to £400 million.
Rolls Royce plans to build a purpose-built factory in Rotherham, northern England, which is also the site of the Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre, which helps firms become certified nuclear suppliers.
A Rolls Royce spokesman said the hope is that the factory will become “some sort of springboard” for nuclear export orders in future.
In November 2011 EDF Energy applied for consent from the UK’s Infrastructure Planning Commission to build and operate two new nuclear reactor units at Hinkley Point.
The France-based utility plans to construct the two EPRs to the west of its existing Hinkley Point B nuclear plant, where there are two units in commercial operation.
The British prime minister, David Cameron, who is in Paris to meet the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, to seal the deal, said the agreements were “just the beginning” of investment the government says could be worth £60 billion and create 30,000 jobs.
The government said the joint declaration to be signed today will signal “our shared commitment to the future of civil nuclear power, setting out a shared long term vision of safe, secure, sustainable and affordable energy, that supports growth and helps to deliver our emission reductions targets”.
The two governments will work together with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) “to strengthen international capability to react to nuclear emergencies and establish a joint framework for cooperation and exchanging good practice on civil nuclear security”.
