Prime Minister Gives Wylfa B Huge Boost
by David Phillips
UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown has given Wylfa B new nuclear build hopes a huge boost after he said that nuclear is crucial to UK energy security and a low carbon future. This comes as the Government process to select suitable sites for new build officially gets going, as the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) proposes four potential candidate sites for the new generation nuclear stations. The four locations put forward by the NDA are Wylfa on Anglesey, Sellafield in Cumbria, where Britain’s reprocessing and decommissioning facilities are based, Oldbury in Gloucestershire and Bradwell in Essex. These are all sites where the NDA owns land which would be used for the new nuclear stations. Next week the Government will set out the exact conditions which will need to be satisfied for the sites to be selected. The tests will be rigorous and have regard to the environment and local community as well as safety considerations. Mr Brown said that up to 9,000 jobs could be created at each new build project location and thereafter around 1,000 posts would be needed when the plants start generating electricity. The Prime Minister said nuclear energy is crucial to our low carbon future as well as the UK’s energy security, and said the new generation of nuclear plants represents a “massive opportunity for the UK economy”. In addition to the above sites, other locations now owned by French power giant EDF following the recent takeover of British Energy Group, are likely to be proposed soon. This news comes after first RWE and E.ON announced a joint venture to invest around 20 billion GB pounds in the UK new build programme, followed by an announcement by Scottish and Southern Energy and Spanish energy company Iberdrola, that they plan to join up to compete for one of the new build contracts. This is a very exciting time for the nuclear industry in Britain and particularly for local people on Anglesey as Wylfa now has a real prospect of being the location for one of the first tranche of new nuclear reactors. To get more news and articles, you can subscribe to our free Anglesey Today Newsletter here.
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