‘Agonising uncertainty’

Confusion reigned today (February 14) after UK nuclear company NuGen confirmed that Toshiba remained committed to the Moorside nuclear power station in Cumbria — when just hours before Toshiba said it would delay an announcement on the Cumbria project for another month, after posting record losses which prompted the company’s chairman Shigenori Shiga to resign.

Toshiba, which has a 60 per cent stake in NuGen and whose withdrawal from the Cumbria project would throw the power station’s future into question, gave only a vague statement today, saying that it “will consider participating in the project without taking on any risk from carrying out actual construction work.”

But then just hours later NuGen put out a statement, which said, “NuGen acknowledges the announcement that Toshiba’s review into the future of its nuclear power business outside Japan is complete and that it remains committed to developing NuGen’s Moorside Project.”

Unite slammed the government over the continued uncertainty, and highlighted the problems that arise from relying on the private sector to deliver the UK’s energy needs.

Unite national officer for energy Kevin Coyne noted that the lack of clarity over Toshiba’s future involvement in the Moorside project “piles further agony upon this Cumbrian community.”

“But it also reinforces what Unite has been saying for some time which is that the government must get a grip of the funding of these projects,” he said. “It is the duty of the government, not the private sector, to ensure that UK energy is safe secure and that means it must act to bring our new power stations on stream.

“As the further uncertainty caused by today’s delay by Toshiba all too clearly illustrates, this reliance on private sector companies to supply the financing for the UK’s energy future is simply not secure,” Coyne added. “That’s why it is the job of governments to come up with a coherent financial architecture to ensure that such large developments proceed smoothly.   Keeping our lights on cannot be left to the whimsy of market forces.

“If this government is at all serious about delivering its industrial strategy, then it will not tread water following today’s development.  It is not just the security of our energy supply that is up in the air now.  In a community that could sorely do with the investment, thousands of highly-skilled and well-paid jobs are linked with Moorside going ahead successfully – they cannot be jeopardised.”

Toshiba has a 60 per cent stake to provide the reactors for the Moorside project owned by the NuGen consortium.  NuGen, a UK nuclear company, is a joint venture between Toshiba and French company ENGIE. The Toshiba-owned Westinghouse Electric Company would have supplied the three reactors. ENGIE is earmarked to operate the site.

Unite reiterated that there is not a clear, suitable alternative to the design for the AP1000 nuclear reactors at Moorside, near Sellafield, proposed by Toshiba as their version differs from the generator made by the South Koreans, who the government may approach to replace the Toshiba investment.

“A change of design in the reactor could take five years to implement, which is troubling, as it is means more delays that the UK energy sector can ill-afford,” Coyne added.

“The government has to get a grip of its policy as it has an overriding duty to keep the lights on for the consumer and industry in the decades to come.”