Nuclear Industry Association praises legacy of Hartlepool Power Station and looks to future potential

Commenting on the station’s 40th anniversary on Tuesday, August 1, the Nuclear Industry Association said says the Brenda Road site represents the enduring strength of Britain’s industrial legacy, and also provides a blueprint for future prosperity.

Lincoln Hill, Director of Policy and External Affairs for the association, said: "From less than one tenth of one square mile, it has produced enough clean, reliable, British power to light up every home in the Tees Valley for 200 years. No other station in the region comes close.

“Every day, it produces enough electricity for more than two million homes: without it, we would not have been able to keep the lights on last winter.”

He added it is also a “bedrock of the local community” sustaining more than 700 well-paid skilled jobs, putting tens of millions of pounds into the local economy.

“For 40 years, nuclear on Teesside has delivered exactly what we now want from a new green economy: clean power, energy security and good jobs for local people.

"The lesson is simple enough: build more nuclear power stations.”

Mr Hill said Hartlepool was also the ideal place to support new advanced nuclear reactors and “usher in a revolution in industrial production” for the country.

He said nuclear can replace the burning of fossil fuels by heavy industry to generate home-produced electricity, and hydrogen or high-grade steam for industry.“New advanced nuclear reactors designed to generate very high temperatures are here and ready for the challenge,” said Mr Hill.

“Hartlepool is the place to prove it can be done. It has a site designated for new nuclear development.

“It has the heavy industries that would be customers for heat, power and hydrogen. Lastly, it has a skilled workforce ready, willing and able to deliver the next generation of nuclear power.

“We ask ministers to imagine that with us. We look to them to recognise Hartlepool’s unique potential, designate this site for advanced nuclear development for industrial decarbonisation, and back it with funding.”