Last week’s very welcome Great British Energy – Nuclear announcements confirming an initial £2.5
billion commitment to deploying Small Modular Reactor technology from Rolls-Royce SMR has
boosted a multi-million £ investment programme in the nuclear related technologies of the future at
the Berkeley Science and Technology Park site.
Chiltern Vital Group (CVG) acquired the Berkeley site, which is a few miles from GBE-Nuclear’s
Oldbury nuclear licensed site, just under a year ago. Working in collaboration with international and
national blue-chip partners, including the University of Bristol, an outline planning application is
being advanced for 600,000 sq ft nuclear and related R&D, including for nuclear fission and fusion
technology, office and advanced manufacturing space at Berkeley.
This application is due to be submitted in August of this year.
Negotiations are also well advanced for the re-use of the existing facilities and infrastructure at
Berkeley, including for medical and other isotopes R&D and production.
Chris Turner, CEO of CVG, said:
“The return of medical isotope production to the UK for the first time since 1990 would truly be an
event of national significance.”
In parallel, CVG, through its strategic international partnership with Freepan Holdings Corp., a
leading global energy and maritime conglomerate, are exploring the potential to deliver
commercially funded advanced global SMR/AMR nuclear prototypes and leading global maritime
nuclear technology to the wider region as part of the proposed Severn Edge “supercluster”. This
could include the deployment of approved UK and leading South Korean nuclear maritime and SMR
technology.
Such investment, combined with GBE-Nuclear’s own potential investment at Oldbury, would provide
the required regional long term zero carbon energy baseload to support the AI, advanced
manufacturing, cyber/defense and agri-tech industries of the future; as well as delivering the latent
heat for an affordable regional heat network.
Professor Ian Bond, Pro Vice Chancellor for Science and Engineering, University of Bristol, said:
“We welcome Government’s investment in the GBE nuclear licensed sites, including potentially
Oldbury, which marks a pivotal step forward for the UK’s small modular reactor (SMR) programme
and strengthens the Bristol region as the UK’s leading hub for new nuclear. This investment also
unlocks major opportunities at Berkeley Science and Technology Park—an essential strategic site for
advancing the UK’s future nuclear technologies and aligns strongly with the University of Bristol’s
commitment to driving innovation, skills and research excellence in support of the national nuclear
mission.”
Panagiotis Natsiopoulos, CEO of Freepan Holding Corp. said:
“We are proud to support the UK Government’s bold commitment to nuclear innovation through
targeted investment in next generation technologies. The now confirmed GBE-Nuclear SMR
programme has provided the catalyst for Freepan and our international partners to accelerate our
investment in the commercial deployment of regulator approved SMR technologies, alongside
advanced clean energy infrastructure, and energy intensive future industries.
Through our strategic partnership with CVG, we look forward to enabling the creation of a world
class nuclear and advanced energy technology campus at Berkeley.”
