MORE than 1,000 responses have been received by energy company NuGen to its latest consultation on plans for a nuclear power plant in west Cumbria.

The 11-week consultation, which closed at the end of July, involved 34 events on NuGen's plans for nuclear new build at Moorside, Sellafield.

These took place in schools, workplaces and on-site at Sellafield, and were attended by more than 3,000 people.

Fergus McMorrow, NuGen’s planning lead in Cumbria, said: “We have had a great response to the consultation.

"People in Cumbria remain very supportive of the need for new nuclear and, as you expect in west Cumbria, people have a very high level of knowledge and wanted to discuss the project in some detail to understand how they will be affected and how they might benefit”.

The feedback submissions are being evaluated and an initial report is due to be published in the next few weeks.

A video was filmed at the exhibitions during the consultation and is available on YouTube.

NuGen is a UK company owned by Toshiba of Japan and the French company ENGIE, formerly GDF Suez.

It is due to decide in 2018 whether to proceed with Moorside.

When fully operational, the three reactors would have a combined capacity of up to 3.8GW gross, enough to power up to six million homes.

The first of the three Westinghouse AP1000 reactors is targeted to come online in the mid-2020s.

Construction of the reactors would create thousands of skilled jobs over the next decade, and the project is expected to significantly boost the local, regional and national economies.