Community Nuclear Power announces the UK’s first SMR project

Good to go! We are excited to announce that our first SMR deployment – and the first in the UK – will be in North Tees.

We are able to confirm this having secured an agreement on the land, and an MoU with Westinghouse. This means the component parts and agreements needed to make this ground-breaking proposition happen – land, capability, technology, private capital funding, and community demand – are in place.

This project is fully aligned with GBN’s roadmap, and we look forward to collaborating with them accordingly in the coming months and years.

One of the most important factors in trying to make our innovative approach a reality is finding like-minded companies and communities with whom we can work. In North Tees Group, led by Ian Hunter, and in the Stockton North community, we have found people who share and are passionate about our vision – to enable social and economic transformation through a surplus of clean energy for new industry.

And helping to open up this new energy sector for the UK supports Westinghouse’s ambition to continue to lead the world in nuclear deployment, building on their proven technology, deep understanding of the sector and mature supply chains.

All this gives us the confidence to begin the programme in earnest, starting with arrangements for the early stages of capital release.

This is the first privately funded project deploying SMRs anywhere in Europe, and our goal is to be generating clean energy with in ten years’ time.

There is mature market-led demand in Teesside for a micro-grid of clean, reliable and dedicated energy – in this instance a private sector programme to build a specialised site that provides green sustainable power for the region and supports the development of a Green Energy and Chemical Hub on the North Tees Group Estate, with the ambition of producing power to liquids (e-fuels and e-chemicals) through an offtake ecosystem on the north bank of the River Tees, near Stockton-on-Tees.

The North Tees Group Estate is reclaimed and regenerated industrial land, and the provision of clean, always-on energy from at least four AP300 small modular reactors will help to attract inward investment and bring high-value jobs into the area.

This is in addition to the direct jobs and supply chains created to construct and operate the site, and of course the jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities for the adjacent services that support those manufacturing jobs – all supporting the UK’s drive for economic growth in the regions as well as its Net Zero ambitions.

 We’ve already held a really positive meeting with some of our local stakeholders and representatives in Teesside - the first of many, as we roll-out our community and engagement communication programme.

 In addition, in the coming days we will share more detail about the North Tees project, including insights from some of our stakeholders in the project, and the ways in which our host community will benefit.

 And we plan to hold a public online meeting soon for our valued supporters and interested parties. This will be a chance to share more detail, talk about the next steps and opportunities, answer questions, and reiterate our appreciation for your ongoing support.

 We will continue to engage with our stakeholders and supporters on our Solway project, including Rolls-Royce, given our enduring commitment to enabling SMRs in that region when land decisions are finalised.