Copeland MP Trudy Harrison talked about her vision for the nuclear industry during a two-day conference at Westlakes Science Park.
The 2019 Westlakes Public Value Convention, hosted by the University of Central Lancashire, focused on public value and achieving the greatest benefits for the community.
Speaking on the second day, Mrs Harrison, said: “The nuclear industry is the safest large-scale power industry in the world. My vision is to have large scale reactors and small modular reactors as well,” she said.
“It’s really important that we challenge the negative perception of the nuclear industry, tackle the mistruths, tackle the waste issue and also the costs.
“The reality is that we need to get the costs down of new nuclear and this is where nuclear innovation and small modular reactors come into their own.
“We need to de-carbonise our environment and I think that it’s important we do more with small modular reactors, we can be ahead of the curve on this, we have a game-changing opportunity here,” she told the conference.
Innovative work was presented by a range of experts including Dr Gianluigi Baldesi, of the European Space Agency; Professor Paul Howarth of the National Nuclear Laboratory, and Ivan Baldwin of Britain’s Energy Coast Business Cluster.
