NuGen to secure government finance for Moorside nuclear power project

NuGeneration (NuGen) and HM treasury have signed a co-operation agreement which starts the process of allowing NuGen access to the UK Guarantee Scheme to promote financing for a new nuclear power station at Moorside, NuGen said today.

NuGen and HM Treasury will work together to see how the Scheme can support arrangement of external project finance for Moorside, the nuclear consortium said.

NuGen is a UK nuclear company owned by Toshiba and GDF SUEZ which plans to build a new nuclear power plant next to the Sellafield nuclear complex in West Cumbria.

The UK Generation Scheme forms a key component of any financing structure for new low-carbon power plants.

It was introduced in 2012 to help companies finance the huge cost of new power plants and other major infrastructure projects through the government acting as guarantee to encourage further investment by outside companies.

Moorside in West Cumbria is set to be the largest new nuclear development in Europe. It will have the biggest nuclear output from a single UK power station when all three of the planned Westinghouse reactors come online by 2026, providing 3.4GW of power. The first reactor is expected to be connected to the grid by 2024.

The chancellor of the exchequer, George Osborne, said: “We’re happy to have signed this agreement with NuGen. Investment in a new generation of civil nuclear power is part of our long term economic plan to provide Britain with the energy it needs for decades to come.”

NuGen chief executive, Sandy Rupprecht said: “The signing of this co-operation agreement with HM Treasury is another demonstration of NuGen’s forward momentum as we power forward with our Moorside project.”

NuGen hopes to have the full range of licences and permissions in place for the development, ahead of a Final Investment Decision (FID) in 2018.