NuGen, the joint venture company developing a new nuclear plant for construction at Moorside in Cumbria, is to delay application for a Development Consent Order for the project. The company had planned to make the application by the end of June but now says the timetable will depend on how it alters its design to meet local conditions.
The announcement comes as Westinghouse, the company that will supply and build the planned reactor, applied for bankruptcy protection for its US business.
The Moorside project aims to develop a new 3.8GW nuclear power station. Westinghouse’s parent company Toshiba is one of the joint venture partners in the project, along Engie (formerly GDF Suez).
NuGen announced that the DCO delay was due to a “fantastic response” to its public consultation on the project. That finished in July 2016. NuGen said today that “the written responses were extremely detailed. They included many valuable suggestions and the subsequent evaluation work is still underway.” The company would be re-evaluating its design choices and “the extent of the changes to our proposals will determine to what degree the timeline for submission will change,” it said. The reactor design is due to receive approval from the Office of Nuclear Regulation this week.
Westinghouse has had to file for bankruptcy protection because of “financial and construction challenges” in AP1000 power plant projects in the USA. The process will fund and protect its core businesses during a planned restructuring.
The company said its operations in the UK as well as those in Asia and Europe, the Middle East and Africa Regions “are not impacted by the Chapter 11 filings”. The company provides fuel and engineering and maintenance services to nuclear operators in those regions.
Further reading
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