Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the UK opposition Labout Party, has given his personal backing to a the new NPP planned for Moorside in Cumbria.
The project is expected to create 20,000 jobs and has become a key issue in a local by-election. He said on 2 February, “Labour supports new nuclear as part of the UK’s energy mix to keep the lights on and tackle climate change.”
NuGen, a joint venture between Japan’s Toshiba and France’s Engie (formerly GDF Suez) aims to develop a 3.8GWe NPP based on two Westinghouse AP1000 units at Moorside. Westinghouse is a wholly owned subsidiary of Toshiba. Corbyn said he hoped the company could “provide the necessary assurances on the strike price and value for money”. This coincided with Toshiba announcing that it was reviewing its entire nuclear operations outside Japan. However, this is not expected to impact Westinghouse projects.
