Maldon District Council has voted tonight (Thursday, 17 December) to send a letter to key government figures in support of Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) currently being developed by Rolls Royce – indicating a potential alternative to the proposed new plant at Bradwell B.

Maldon District Council's Bradwell B Working Party, a group of councillors whose task has been to feed back to the wider council on the proposed new nuclear plant, has come up with the idea of sending the letter to Maldon MP John Whittingdale and Stephen Speed, Director of Nuclear at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

The council voted at the beginning of October to reconsider Maldon district's Local Development Plan (LDP), which strongly supported the principle of the development of a new nuclear power station at Bradwell-on-Sea. The October vote meant that the council could potentially oppose nuclear development on the site in a revised LDP. This followed the Stage One consultation on the current Bradwell B proposals, where additional information gave councillors concerns over the scale of the plans and the potential environmental impact.

The hope of the letter, however, is that by offering some support for the ongoing development of the Rolls Royce SMR, the new technology could potentially offer an alternative plan for Bradwell if the current proposals should fall through - and if the Government continues to focus on Bradwell-on-Sea as a suitable location for nuclear development.

A report to councillors in advance of today's full council meeting stated: "The working group are fully aware that SMR technology is not a part of BRB's [the company behind the nuclear plans] proposals for the site.

"However, in light of concerns about the scale of the current proposals and the associated scale of likely effects, the working group felt that should the current proposals for a power station fall aside for whatever reason, and that the government continues to consider Bradwell B as a suitable site for new nuclear development, that SMR technology could be considered as an option for the Bradwell B site in preference to conventional nuclear development."

Speaking at the meeting, Independent Councillor Kevin Lagan spoke against sending the letter.

He said: "We're talking about a technology that we don't really know about and SMRs are not small - and this could result in even greater space being taken up on that beautiful peninsula."

But Independent Councillor Nick Skeen voiced his support for the letter, adding: "My major concern is that the current proposal has a group of the biggest buildings in Essex in one of the flattest areas of Essex and one of the most rural - and that just cannot happen.

"We've got to do what we can to get this scaled down."

Councillors voted to send the letter, with a recorded vote of 12 for, 11 against and one abstention.

However, speaking before the meeting, both the company behind the proposals (BRB) and pressure groups against, dismissed the notion of SMRs for the Bradwell site.

A spokesperson from BRB said: "The Bradwell B Project continues to work on proposals for a new, third generation nuclear power station at Bradwell. When built, it'll supply the equivalent of 4 million homes, which will help the UK take a huge step towards securing reliable, low carbon electricity supplies for more than 60 years. The UK HPR1000 technology we are proposing to use is progressing well through the generic design assessment by the UK's nuclear regulators and our ongoing work continues to demonstrate that the site is suitable.

"We will continue to work with Maldon District Council as we progress through the planning and consenting process."

And a spokesperson for BAN (Bradwell B Action Network) said: "Small Nuclear Reactors are not small and will be as big as Bradwell A. They will still cause unacceptable ecological harm."

What is SMR (Small Modular Reactor) technology?

The Rolls Royce collaborative initiative involves using advanced engineering and manufacturing techniques to put together smaller-scale but efficient nuclear reactors that can be assembled off-site.

A statement from the Rolls Royce SMR website reads: "UK SMR technology envisaged by the Rolls-Royce-led UK consortium can produce nuclear power in a new way anywhere in the world. It solves the conundrum of how to create affordable energy, and more of it, with a lower carbon footprint."

More information on SMR development is available at the website link here.

However, as the council report states: "The Rolls Royce SMR project is due to finish its conceptual design stage in early 2021 and will need substantial further investment to progress to the next stage where it could apply for A Generic Design Assessmment by the Office of Nuclear Regulation and Environment Agency."

The decision on whether Bradwell B gets final permission to go ahead will come from the national Planning Inspectorate, but Maldon District Council (MDC) is among the local authorities whose views are taken into consideration. MDC refused planning permission for ground works to start at the Bradwell site in August, but it is expected that this decision could be overturned by the Planning Inspectorate on appeal. The Planning Inspector visited yesterday to decide on that appeal.

The Bradwell B Power Generation Company (BRB) is formed of an alliance between the China General Nuclear Power Corporation (CGN) and French power company EDF.