A ‘supercomputer for west Cumbria’: Pioneer Park energy project plans detailed

A West Cumbrian ‘community-focused’ energy project has been described as a ‘supercomputer for west Cumbria’ at a meeting in Workington this week.

Members of Cumberland Council’s nuclear issues board met at Allerdale House on Monday (March 23) where they considered the Pioneer Park project.

Members were told by a nuclear industry advisor that a masterplan for the project was being developed which will outline the status of the land (which sits adjacent to Sellafield), how it will be developed and how the power would be used.

He said there were two or three credible developers and it was expected that they would be approached in September, adding that the development would have to be powered using small modular reactors (SMRs) as renewables were not viable.

According to the report, the purpose of the project is to diversify the west Cumbrian economy and provide a wide range of job opportunities to all elements of the community for its long-term future. It adds: “We will be using the power generated at Pioneer Park to attract inward investment, as opposed to providing power to the national grid.”

It has been proposed that the SMRs could power an AI system or data centre. Cllr Joseph Ghayouba (Bransty, Labour) said such developments were very ‘thirsty’, because they needed large volumes of water for cooling purposes, and they would have to be operated by people in specialised jobs so it would be important to train young people with the right skills.

The nuclear industry advisor said that 200 acres would be sufficient to accommodate the facility, with 400 acres available. He added: “It’s just a question of which 200 acres.”

He said it was a priority that the project should disrupt the Sellafield programme. Cllr Andy Pratt (Millom Without, Conservative) asked if placing a data centre would put the area at risk. Cllr Mark Fryer (St Johns and Great Clifton, Labour), the leader of the council, said it would not because security there was already high.

The report states that BEC (Energy Coast West Cumbria Ltd, a profit-for-purpose property developer and regeneration specialist) launched the Pioneer Park Prospectus and the initial market engagement process in early August, with the market engagement being successfully completed in late October, following discussions with more than 40 interested parties.

According to the report, these organisations included:

• Developers;
• SMR sellers (including all four Great British Energy – Nuclear shortlisted technologies);
• Renewable energy sellers;
• Low carbon industrial organisations (Hydrogen, Sustainable Aviation Fuels);
• Data centre/digital services providers; and
• Potential delivery partners.

The report concludes that there is significant market interest in Pioneer Park and it adds: “Given the constraints of the land available, only SMRs can deliver the power that will be required to attract inward investment to our community and diversify the economy.

“Small pockets of renewables (wind/solar PV) may be feasible on land that is unsuitable for SMR construction.

“Given the geographical and infrastructure constraints of west Cumbria, a digital technology-based economy is preferrable and more likely to succeed than a large scale clean industrial (hydrogen or sustainable aviation fuel generation) based economy (though there is potential for a single mid-range industrial facility alongside the data-led economy).

“The scale of land that has been designated in EN6 for new nuclear power generation and is being offered by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) for Pioneer Park, is sufficient to host three or more of most SMRs plus large-scale data centres.”

According to the report the shape of the land currently being offered is restrictive to development and it states: “This will be addressed through the masterplan process. There is significant market interest in the prospect of a nuclear-powered AI Growth Zone and data/technology led economic diversification in Cumberland.

“All organisations that BEC engaged with in the digital technology sector have unanimously recommended an interim solution to power early data centre deployment ahead of the construction and operation of SMRs and larger scale data centre deployment.

“Given the capacity limitations of the local grid, there will need to be a careful balance between generating sufficient energy to attract inward investment and over generation. This will influence the SMR technology selection.

“There are very few credible developers in the market that are close to being funded. This is our biggest risk to delivery. As the first-of-a-kind nuclear powered AI Growth Zone, we can transform the Pioneer Park project into a product that is scalable and exportable for the wider UK economy.

“The consistent message from SMR vendors and developers is that the project timescale to the start of reactor operations will be in the order of 10 years.

“While we will be aiming for up to 1Gw generating capacity, BEC is holding constructive discussions with a micro-reactor vendor that may give us an opportunity for smaller scale SMR and data centre deployment on an earlier timescale.”

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