Nuclear Futures

West Cumbria is home to the UK’s leading nuclear business cluster.

It has an internationally renowned skills base with unique technological expertise and is host to Sellafield, the world’s single, largest concentration of nuclear facilities containing 36 per cent of the UK’s civil nuclear industry.

With this expertise, West Cumbria has the potential to deliver the critical elements of a national energy strategy that meets the imperatives of both combating climate change and securing the nation’s energy supply.

As decommissioning of the four nuclear sites at Sellafield gathers pace, global opportunities for research, technology, engineering and environmental companies are attracting an unprecedented level of international interest and investment.

These are opportunities, not just for technology tried and tested at Sellafield and at the marine defence operations at Barrow-in-Furness, but for adapting nuclear technology for new uses and new markets.

Cumbria Vision is working with the Nuclear Opportunities team at West Lakes Renaissance, the regeneration company for Furness and West Cumbria, and major public and private sector organisations in Cumbria to create an environment that will open up these opportunities for companies based in West Cumbria and the rest of the county:

• Commercialising Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) developed within Sellafield and offering them to businesses based in Cumbria
  
  
• Developing a Technology Centre to support new products and technology
  
  
• Identifying potential opportunities for collaboration and the establishment of local manufacturing premises
  
  
• Helping to support and develop the locally based nuclear supply chain
  
  
• Co-ordinating Higher Education and Research & Development investment supporting the nuclear industry

For more information on the work of the Nuclear Opportunities Team at
West Lakes Renaissance click here

Inside Sellafield - a global centre of excellence for skills and expertise in the nuclear industry
(Picture courtesy of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority)

Working in gloveboxes at Sellafield
(Picture courtesy of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority)

Waste storage units in Sellafield
(Picture courtesy of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority)