CUMBRIA has ‘incredibly attractive sites’ to host new nuclear technology, according to the nuclear minister, as he hinted at an announcement on the siting of new SMR technology ‘very soon’.

Government nuclear minister Andrew Bowie MP visited the county yesterday, September 20, on his first visit to the Sellafield Ltd site. The minister praised the county he said has been ‘at the heart of the nuclear story of this country’ since its very beginning.

Mr Bowie took a tour of the first nuclear site in Europe, as well as a visit to the National Nuclear Laboratory and a meet-and-greet with members of the Civil Nuclear Constabulary who police Sellafield.

In November 2022, the announcement about new Rolls Royce SMRs was quickly followed by the launch of a new company – the Solway Community Power Company - headed by former Sellafield chief executive Paul Foster.

The community power company was created to make Cumbria the ‘perfect customer’ for Rolls-Royce who have already prioritised land near Sellafield as one of four sites across the UK for their ground-breaking reactors.

The government launched ‘Great British Nuclear’ (GBN) in July, with its first job to launch a new competition for the best SMR technologies to be taken forward in the autumn.

In an interview with the News & Star, Mr Bowie confirmed the government and GBN are considering what he describes as ‘incredibly attractive sites’ in Cumbria.

Andrew Bowie MP said: “It would be the easiest thing in the world for me to go to every nuclear site and say this is the perfect site, but honestly, we are working through the siting process now, there are incredibly attractive sites here in Cumbria, not very many miles from where we are now that could be used to develop small modular reactors on.

“We know that Great British Nuclear who are running this siting process know that as well, so that’s all in the mix and there will be an announcement on the siting in due course - very soon - and we will then we want to move onto the next stage.

“I can understand why many people in this area are championing this area for new investment, I would be doing the same and so I am very cognisant of that but Great British Nuclear are running a process and they will have an announcement very soon.”