Norfolk village a 'target site' for nuclear power plant

Viaro Energy, which bought Bacton Gas Terminal earlier this year, has revealed that the site is a 'target' location for a new generation of 'small scale' power plants.

The scheme's backers claim the technology can play a key role in the country's shift to 'clean' energy and reduce the need for solar and wind projects.

The company said the plant would support more than 120 jobs when in operation, as well as many more during construction and in its supply chain.

However, the scheme is likely to prove highly controversial.

What the IMSR could look like (Image: Terrestrial Energy) Senior Norfolk county councillors have previously spoken of their hope that small-scale reactors could be built in the county.

In 2022, Graham Plant, the then deputy leader, said that the devices would “solve Norfolk’s energy problem".

But his comments were criticised at the time by Steffan Aquarone, then a Liberal Democrat councillor and now North Norfolk's MP, who said nuclear energy was “too slow, too expensive and too dangerous”.

He added: "Who in Norfolk is going to want these new nuclear power stations on their doorstep?"

North Norfolk MP Steffan Aquarone (Image: Steffan Aquarone)

Bacton Gas Terminal (Image: Mike Page) THE PLANS

London-based Viaro Energy announced its plans as part of a joint venture with US tech firm Terrestrial Energy, to roll out the American company's IMSR plants across the UK.

The nuclear plant would generate clean electricity, and Viaro Energy and Terrestrial Energy expect to reach a final investment decision on the project in 2030.

Bacton Gas Terminal (Image: PA Media/Joe Giddens)

WHAT ARE IMSR PLANTS?

Terrestrial Energy’s Integral Molten Salt Reactor (IMSR) cogeneration plants use molten salt fission technology to produce thermal energy (high-temperature heat) for direct industrial use and to generate electricity.

Whereas conventional fission technology uses a water coolant circulating through a pressurised system to cool solid fuel elements – the signature features of current nuclear power plants like Suffolk's Sizewell – IMSR plants use a molten salt as a coolant and fuel.

The firm claims this is a superior reactor coolant compared to water, meaning IMSR plants  can operate safely at high temperature and low pressure.

IMSR plants require no pressurised cooling systems, which has significant cost advantages.

Terrestrial Energy says its IMSR plants are 50pc more efficient than conventional nuclear power plants, and use 40pc less water.

The operating life of a plant is more than 50 years, and seven hectares of land use would generate 400 megawatts (MW) of electric power.

Bacton gas Terminal (Image: PA Media/Joe Giddens) BACTON GAS TERMINAL

Viaro Energy agreed to acquire Bacton Gas Terminal from Shell earlier this year.

The deal includes the facility as well as 11 of Shell's Southern North Sea gas fields off the east coast.

The gas-processing terminal and fields are currently operated by Shell through Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij (NAM), which is a joint venture between Shell and ExxonMobil.

Viaro Energy, which has a working interest in more than 65 fields in the North Sea, made the deal via its main operating subsidiary RockRose Energy.

It followed Shell's 2021 review of its portfolio in the Southern North Sea, when it decided to shift its focus to central and northern areas of the sea. 

The acquisition is set to be completed in 2025.

First opening in 1968, the gas complex sits on the coast, just metres from the beach, on a site roughly 180 acres in size – around 120 football pitches.

NET ZERO

The government has made the ambitious pledge to decarbonise the electricity grid by 2030, to make Britain a ‘clean energy superpower'.

The UK also aims to reach net zero by 2050, meaning that total greenhouse gas emissions would be equal to the emissions removed from the atmosphere. 

To help deliver a zero-carbon electricity system by 2030 - five years earlier than the previous government's target - projects that are deemed Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs) will bypass the usual planning process, and local councils will not be able to block them.

Ed Miliband, the secretary of state for energy, will have the ultimate say.

Norfolk is already feeling the effects of Mr Miliband's net zero ambitions, with plans recently unveiled to create the UK's three largest solar farms in the county.