"Feasible" is fine but to make it happen someone needs to invest money in it. I'm all in favour of alternative energy sources, and they probably will make a big contribution in the long term, but if companies are prepared to invest in Wylfa B now it would be folly to turn them away.
You're wrong about Albert Owen too. He has worked very effectively for Anglesey and he'll get my vote next time.
Mar 23, 2008 Rating
Anglesey Jobs by: Anonymous
Sorry Huw, you cannot compare Trawsfynydd's experience to Wylfa.
Although both are Magnox sites, they are very different, and it will take a fraction of the time to prepare for the Care and Maintenance phase of decommissioning.
A look at the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority's plan at http://www.nda.gov.uk/ will show that although preparations will continue until 2025, staffing will dramatically drop off to around 200 by 2014 and less than 100 by 2016.
As an older Magnox site, Trawsfynydd is far more complex and has more waste streams than Wylfa to clean up, which explains why it takes more people longer.
However, I suspect that those in Meirionnydd who moan that there are no jobs for local people will wish they campaigned for a new power station once the 600+ people who work there, 80% of whom are local, are thrown on the unemployed scrapheap.
Nothing will replace those valuable and well paid jobs there.
Well done Albert Owen and the Plaid Cymru people who have come to their senses - real jobs will bring real benefits, and they must focus on developing other sectors in the wake of what Wylfa B will bring.
Mar 22, 2008 Rating
Need action, not just ideas! by: Anonymous
Great ideas but Wylfa B is a real prospect not just wishful thinking. Why not put your energy into getting some of this stuff actually happening. Just think how much worse this corner of Anglesey would have been without Wylfa.
Mar 18, 2008 Rating
Island Needs Wylfa and Renewable Projects by: Anthony Graves
Why does Huw see everything as a choice between Wylfa B new power station and other ideas? It is possible to have all these excellent ideas you suggest AND a new nuclear build on Anglesey. It is not one or the other.
Just think about it. If Huw is right about the number of jobs in his estimate then you can add another 1,000 say while Wylfa B is being built and certainly about 300+ when it is in operation.
So it is possible to have high quality jobs for people operating a new nuclear power station as well as for those involved in site demolition and decommissioning.
I don't know what Huw means by conservation of energy programmes and how you would create 95 jobs.
On the tidal farms, I think MCT Limited are looking at 7 units giving up to 10.5 MW between Skerries and Carmel Head. I don't know how you get to 250 MW, which is just over the amount Anglesey Aluminium would need. Over 20 times the current MCT plans!
The solar panels and photovoltaics are a good idea, and this is certainly a growth area. I suppose there would be link ups with Sharps in Wrexham.
Huw talks about LNG. The plans by Canatxx LNG are going ahead, as I understand it, and they would want to regasify the LNG at Amlwch and then pipe it under the Irish Sea to Lancashire. There would be a lot of construction jobs for the time the site at old Great Lakes site is redeveloped.
I don't know about a gas-fired power station at Wylfa though. I heard on the news that we want to try to limit our dependence on gas powered electricity generation. It's enough to have LNG at Amlwch to supply the UK grid.
In the end we can see Anglesey being a sort of energy island, bringing new nuclear together with tidal energy and the growth of biomass as a source of alternative fuel.
