ThorEA - Towards an Alternative Nuclear Future.pdf

5.2 Inward investment
The delivery of a thorium based ADSR system in advance
of conventional Generation IV reactors would place the
UK at the forefront of nuclear energy generation. Such
international leadership will inevitably result in inward
investment opportunities for the UK. Indeed, the proposed
accelerator-based technology outlined in this report has
already generated considerable interest from the Norwegian
owned engineering company Aker Solutions which has a UK
base in the North East of England. Aker Solutions level of
commitment to develop a thorium fuelled ADSR is significant
and the company has indicated that if suitable partners can
be found (public or private), it would aim to design, build
and commission a full-scale reactor within the UK by 2030.
Aker Solutions is in the process of seeking development
partners within the UK including accelerator science and
technology developers, as well as industrial partners from the
nuclear engineering sector. If such a reactor was to be built,
Aker Solutions has indicated that the UK would be a preferred
location. This level of engagement already demonstrates the
potential inward investment opportunity which the project
would attract, from both the nuclear reactor perspective and
the leading-edge platform technologies which would have to be
developed to achieve the ambitious aims detailed in this report.
5.3 Regional development
The regional development agency Yorkshire Forward, at
the request of the then Science Minister, Lord Sainsbury,
commissioned a report by Arthur D.Little on the economic
impact of large scale facility, i.e. the European Spallation
Source, on the Yorkshire region, (Little, 2005). The
socioeconomic analysis showed that not only did the majority
of the investment stay within the region during construction,
a large percentage also remained during operation. The ongoing
benefit and legacy was found to be many multiples of
the investment with a ‘cluster’ of companies following such
investment. The report demonstrates this through reference
to other large scale projects around the world (SNS – USA,
ANSLS – Australia, CLS – Canada).
Given that the culmination of the AESIR accelerator
development programme would be a “large scale facility”
similar in scope and application to those at TRIUMF (Vancouver,
Canada) and PSI (Villigen Switzerland) the socioeconomic
advantage to the host region could be significant, although
Little cautioned that such benefits would be much reduced
if the facility was located in an economically heated region
(e.g. the Thames Valley).
A report prepared by: the thorium energy amplifier association 43