Delight over new power station for Tees

Nov 10 2009 by Evening Gazette

BUSINESS leaders and politicians have greeted with delight news that Hartlepool is on the government's list of fast-track sites for a new nuclear power station.

The massive construction project could bring more than £2.5bn into the regional economy, creating thousands of jobs.

The move comes as Energy and Climate Secretary Ed Miliband set out an “ambitious” new policy for the transition to clean-coal generation and confirmed targets for generating 30% of electricity by renewable sources by 2020.

The announcements were coupled with attempts to speed up planning decisions on new energy projects aimed at cutting the time taken to gain approval to one year.

Business leaders welcomed Teesside’s role in the nuclear plans, which could generate 9,000 jobs per station.

George Rafferty, of NOF Energy, which has spent the past year urging companies to prepare for lucrative nuclear new build and decommissioning contracts - most recently, bringing Westinghaus to Teesside for a meet the buyer event - said it was “without a shadow of a doubt excellent news”.

“Hopefully, the work we have done will convince regional businesses of the true potential (of nuclear),” he said.

Tony Sarginson, regional director of manufacturing organisation EEF, expressed “absolute delight” at the news and said firms should also be encouraged to “sniff after the other nine sites on the list” in order to supply them with component parts. But he added: “All the agencies will have to work in a co-ordinated way to ensure we have the skills to meet the demand because there will be pressure from other areas of the country to take people away from us.”

Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland Labour MP, Ashok Kumar, said a new nuclear station at Hartlepool would “create more jobs very quickly”.

He said: “As a scientist, I know that these will be highly skilled jobs, ranging from plant design and commissioning through to construction and ultimately operation.”

The first of the ten stations is set to be operational by 2018 and by 2025 nuclear electricity generation could amount to around 40% of new energy provision.

Hartlepool power station owner EDF Energy, which will prioritise development of sites in the south of England, said: “As a result of the contracts we have placed so far with 40 UK companies for preparatory work, there are 400 people in the UK supply chain already working on our new build project.”

“For construction our project will lead to a further 150 contracts being let.

“There will be about 4,000 jobs on site at the peak during construction as well as nearly 1,500 direct jobs for the 60-year life of the plants.”