AN AMBITIOUS bid is being launched to make land at the former Oldbury and Berkeley nuclear power stations home to the answer to the world’s energy problems, writes Adam Postans.

The Government’s UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) is seeking a location for the first ever nuclear fusion plant, which replicates how the sun works in a chamber on earth to provide limitless, clean energy.

Local authorities, MPs and key industry and business partners straddling the Gloucestershire/South Gloucestershire border have now teamed up in the hope of attracting the world-first prototype to the banks of Severn Estuary.

The bid, which is currently being drawn up, sees the cutting-edge reactor called a Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (Step) sited at Oldbury in South Gloucestershire or nearby Berkeley in Gloucestershire, both of which have decommissioned nuclear power stations.

Aside from the potential to save the planet, it would also create thousands of highly skilled local jobs and bring billions of pounds of investment and “transformational benefits” to the wider region by supporting a vast network of supply chains, including South Wales steel, research and development, training and skills.

The Step Tokamak works by heating atoms to ten times the temperature of the centre of the sun forming a plasma in which they smash together in a process called nuclear fusion to produce heavier atoms.

This releases a huge amount of energy which is converted to power a turbine and generate electricity, just like any power station.

The reason a fusion Tokamak doesn’t melt despite the inside reaching 100million degrees celsius is that giant magnets keep the super-heated plasma away from the chamber’s edges, while the system is said to be fail-safe.

Fusion is different from fission, which is used in traditional nuclear power stations where atoms, instead of being fused together, are split apart to release energy.

A working group of multiple partners including South Gloucestershire, Gloucestershire County and Stroud District councils has answered the UKAEA’s call to nominate sites for what would be the world’s first commercial nuclear fusion plant when it begins operating by 2040.

A spokesperson for the partnership said: “Although it’s early days, we believe that land and facilities around the former Oldbury and Berkeley nuclear power stations are likely to form a good basis for siting such a project.

“The councils are working with the landowners, including Horizon Nuclear Power, Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), Magnox and South Gloucestershire and Stroud College (SGS) to investigate the potential for a site nomination at the Oldbury (Horizon) site and the Berkeley (NDA/SGS) site.

“As partners consider these proposals there is an appetite to explore the added value of working with stakeholders across a wider South West and Western Gateway geography to understand the layers of opportunity for development of; skills, R&D, supply-chains and advancement of manufacturing and energy technology.

“We recognise that residents and other stakeholders will want to hear more and we are pleased that a presentation has already been made to the Oldbury and Berkeley Site Stakeholder meetings.

“We will develop a stakeholder plan to support a nomination process should the consortium of partners be in agreement that this opportunity is in the best interests of the region’s future.”

South Gloucestershire Council leader Cllr Toby Savage said: “We are working with Western Gateway, Nuclear South West and a range of partners including local authorities and landowners to investigate the potential for an Oldbury and Berkeley submission to the UKAEA call for a Step fusion prototype reactor.

“It is obviously very early in the process and a nomination has not yet been submitted, however we believe this presents a superb opportunity for the region to build on its heritage in the energy sector and be positioned once again at the forefront of clean, low-carbon energy technology.

“We are collectively considering the proposals in order to make the best use of the land at Oldbury and Berkeley, and to explore the potential opportunities to benefit our local communities and for the development of skills and jobs in the low carbon energy sector.” 

Metro mayor Tim Bowles said: “The West of England is already a centre of excellence for nuclear expertise, and by working as part of the Nuclear South West partnership, I want to make our region the international hub for safe, clean fusion technology.

“Securing the Step project here will bring more jobs of the future to our region, create new business opportunities and secure our existing advanced manufacturing supply chains for the long term.

“It really is an exciting prospect.”

Announcing a call for sites in December, then Business and Energy Secretary Alok Sharma said: “We want the UK to be a trailblazer in fusion energy by capitalising on its incredible potential as a clean energy source that could last for generations to come.

“Communities across the country have an opportunity to secure their place in the history books as the home of Step, helping the UK to be the first country in the world to commercialise fusion and creating thousands of highly skilled jobs to drive the UK’s Green Industrial Revolution.”

The Step project, to which the Government has so far committed £222million, will be delivered by UKAEA which carries out nuclear fusion research for Whitehall.