A decision looms over an ambitious bid to build the world’s first prototype nuclear fusion plant on the Severn Estuary, providing potentially limitless clean energy. It comes as industry giants Toshiba, Thales and Renishaw have thrown their weight behind the project for the Severn Edge sites at the decommissioned nuclear power stations in Oldbury in South Gloucestershire and nearby Berkeley, Gloucestershire.
The bid is on a shortlist of five across the country to be home to the UK Atomic Energy Authority’s (UKAEA’s) flagship Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (Step) programme, whose pioneering reactor would generate power using the same processes as inside the sun. A council meeting last week was told the technical assessments had been completed and the signs remained “very positive” for the region to attract the project.
And with the Government nearing its decision on which of the five locations will be given the nod, economic powerhouse partnership the Western Gateway, which is leading the bid to bring the plant to the region with the aim of proving the technology’s commercial viability, says Toshiba, Thales and Renishaw have announced their backing for Severn Edge. They are among 28 businesses and organisations, including four universities and political leaders, who have written to the UKAEA pledging their “strong support”.
