Plans for new nuclear power plant in Cumbria

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The location of the new development.

A ten-week consultation begins this weekend on plans to build a new nuclear power plant near Sellafield.

The facility would have three reactors on the site at Moorside and be Europe's largest new nuclear power site.

  • It will cost an estimated £10 billion

  • It's expected to deliver low-carbon electricity to power around six million homes

  • It's expected to account for around 7% of the UK's future electricity requirements

  • It would be the biggest ever private investment in West Cumbria

The power company NuGen hopes construction will begin in 2020 with the first reactor up and running in 2024.

Anti-nuclear protestors are expected to hold a demonstration against the project in Whitehaven tomorrow.