Fylde MP Mark Menzies has welcomed a ministerial visit to the Westinghouse facility in Fylde – and has called on the Government to ensure any future nuclear deals include provision of fuel from the firm.
Richard Harrington, a minister at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, visited Westinghouse’s Springfields site to see fuel being manufactured, and to meet apprentices.
The facility manufactures the nuclear fuel that provides up to 22 per cent of the UK’s electricity supply, and is of key strategic importance to the UK.
Mr Harrington met with Westinghouse’s apprentices, most of whom live locally and attend Blackpool and the Fylde College, to hear about their experiences training for careers in the nuclear industry, which will help to deliver the ambitious proposals set out in the Government’s Nuclear Sector Deal.
Fylde MP Mark Menzies has called for the Government to ensure a deal for any future nuclear power stations includes the provision of fuel from the Springfields site.
Mr Menzies said: “I'm pleased to see Secretary of State at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Richard Harrington visited Springfields.
“When Richard became a minister in BEIS, I visited him with Westinghouse staff to impress on him the importance of ensuring any deals for new nuclear power stations in the UK included provision of fuel from this site.
“I want the Government's Nuclear Sector Deal to ensure any fuel is made here in Fylde.
“We must protect not only British highly-skilled engineering jobs, we must also ensure we maintain the ability to make our own nuclear fuel in the future.
“And we must make sure we put in place all possible protections for our workers – we cannot allow a foreign power station owner to bring in fuel from abroad, purely to support jobs in their own country. We need a level playing field.”