EXPERTS in the nuclear industry have said that one third of the UK’s clean energy could be produced by nuclear power by 2050 – potentially putting Copeland at the forefront of the climate strategy.

The Nuclear Industry Association has published a roadmap to net zero, hailing hydrogen as the key to reducing decarbonisation.

It is welcome news to those backing the Green Energy Hub plans for Moorside.

The site, next to Sellafield, could house Small Modular Reactors, and if a new bid led by Cumbria LEP is successful a prototype nuclear fusion reactor.

Copeland MP Trudy Harrison, who is backing the clean energy campaign, said it is 'exciting' news that nuclear fusion could come to the borough.

“What’s also important, and why I’ve called a meeting of industry leaders and community leaders in and around Copeland, is to make sure all the projects and opportunities are linked up.”

There is a fresh impetus amongst concerned parties to secure the Rolls Royce SMRs, and potentially nuclear fusion, at Moorside.

Mrs Harrison said: “We can’t keep saying these are exciting opportunities without delivering.”

The Nuclear Industry Association’s Hydrogen Roadmap claims that small modular reactors like those in the works for Moorside could produce the power and heat needed to produce hydrogen which is free of emissions and believed to be the key to combatting global warming.

The association’s chief executive Tom Greatrex wants nuclear power to be “at the heart of green hydrogen production”.