ONE of the world's biggest chemical companies has offered to part-finance the first in a new generation of nuclear power plants in the North-East, The Northern Echo can reveal.

Last night, Huntsman confirmed it could help offset the £1bn building cost by signing a 20-year power deal.

The move would give any potential builder of a new nuclear power station in Hartlepool a guaranteed income for two decades.

Huntsman's offer has been passed to Nuclear Power Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks.

The Government is hoping private investors can be found to build replacements for Britain's ageing nuclear power stations.

Huntsman's pledge greatly increases the chances of Hartlepool's nuclear power station being replaced when it is decommissioned in 2014.

The Northern Echo understands that other chemical companies on Teesside are also willing to enter into long-term contracts should a new power plant be built.

The news comes weeks before Tony Blair is expected to give the go-ahead to a new wave of nuclear power stations when he unveils the conclusions of an energy review.

Their cause is being championed by Redcar MP Vera Baird, who has passed Huntsman's offer to Mr Wicks.

Ms Baird said: "Huntsman made the powerful point that the petrochemical industry has difficulty guaranteeing a secure supply of electricity and gas.

"They have only a narrow band of competitive suppliers and that's such an important factor that the industry would help finance the capital cost of developing a new nuclear power station.

"If the Government gives the green light, the petrochemical industry on Teesside will enter into negotiations with somebody interested in building one."

Half of the UK's petrochemical industry is based in the North-East, with companies such as Huntsman providing about 6,000 jobs.

Bill Perfitt, Huntsman's director of public affairs, confirmed the company's interest in investing in a nuclear plant, probably in the form of a contract to take its power for up to 20 years.

Mr Perfitt said: "We would be willing to consider entering into long-term supply contracts in return for competitively priced and secure supplies of energy, be it nuclear or otherwise."

Hartlepool's advanced gas-cooled reactor is scheduled for decommissioning by 2014. A study carried out two years ago put the price of a replacement at £1bn or more.

But if private chemicals companies contributed in return for cheap power, the Government could give the go-ahead for Britain's first new nuclear plant to be built since the Sizewell B reactor, in Suffolk, opened in 1996.

The move would be fought tooth-and-nail by anti-nuclear campaigners, who insist nuclear plants are uneconomic and potentially dangerous.