NuGeneration, a joint venture between Iberdrola and GDF Suez, has applied for a licence to generate electricity. The company plans to build a nuclear power station of up to 3600 MW on land adjacent to the Sellafield nuclear site.
In October 2009, NuGen secured an option to purchase approx 200 hectares of land near the Sellafield site from the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority for GBP 70 million. The company is currently preparing detailed plans for the project, which was named Moorside late last year. Permission to start site characterization work, led by Iberdrola Ingeniería y construcción and Tractebel Engineering, was granted in November 2011.
NuGen says it remains ‘technology neutral’ and will not take any decisions on a reactor design before site characterisation work is completed, expected by 2013. The Westinghouse AP1000 and Areva EPR designs, which were both granted ‘interim design acceptance’ by the Office of Nuclear Regulation in December 2011, are both in the running.
NuGen expects to make a final investment decision on the Moorside project in 2015, with commissioning of a new nuclear power station around 2023, it said.
