Fylde MP Mark Menzies has been assured by a minister that nuclear fuels workers will be beneficiaries of the Government’s new nuclear programme – despite Toshiba’s decision to withdraw from the development of a site in Cumbria.
Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Greg Clark made the statement to Mr Menzies in Parliament .
During the debate in Parliament, Mr Menzies said: “This decision is not just about west Cumbria. Springfields nuclear fuel, which is based in my constituency and employs 1,200 people, and was hoping to make the nuclear fuel for this plant, as the Secretary of State knows, because he has visited it (in the past).
“What assurances can he give that workforce, and what measures are the Government taking to make sure that Springfields can make nuclear fuel for some of the other plants that he has outlined this afternoon?”
Mr Clark told him: “Springfields is very successful and has an active programme of supplying the nuclear industry generally
“It will be one of the beneficiaries of the fact that we have restarted the build programme for civil nuclear power in this country.
“My hon Friend knows that I will work closely with it and him to make sure that it can bid into those projects when they mature.”
Toshiba was set to develop a new nuclear power station at Moorside, but the company has since decided to withdraw from the nuclear industry. The site will still be developed as a nuclear power station by an alternative company.