Wylfa in Anglesey 'could house next UK nuclear plant'
March 30, 2010
The UK's next nuclear power plant could be constructed on the island of Anglesey by 2020.
Horizon Nuclear Power says it will apply for planning consent in 2012 to build a reactor with up to 3,300MW capacity.
Wylfa, the existing island nuclear plant, will stop producing electricity in December.
Anglesey AM Ieuan Wyn Jones welcomed the proposals and said construction of the plant would be an "economic boost".
County council leader Clive McGregor said the move would have a "positive impact" on the community and deliver "high quality jobs".
He said: "We have suffered tremendous job losses over the last few years.
"This will bring a degree of hope for the people of Anglesey in terms of secure employment both during the construction phase and during the 60 years or so of the life of a new reactor at Wylfa."
He added the development on Anglesey was similar to "a little village winning the right to hold the Olympics", and said the council would need to look at road and communication links, and housing.
The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) is conducting a 15-week consultation about the proposals.
The current Wylfa power station has permission to continue electricity production until December 2010.
According to a report in the Times newspaper, Wylfa was chosen over another site in Oldbury-on-Severn, South Gloucestershire, which Horizon Nuclear Power, a joint venture by energy firms RWE and E.on, hopes to develop later.
The island's council estimates that the development could bring £8bn into the local economy.
Horizon Nuclear Power said a new nuclear station at Wylfa could deliver up to 800 high quality permanent jobs, rising to 1,000 during maintenance and up to 5,000 jobs during construction.
The Welsh Assembly Government remains opposed to new nuclear plants in Wales despite the approval of Wylfa as a potential site.
However, Ieuan Wyn Jones, deputy first minister and minister for economy and transport, said "all efforts" would be made to ensure that the economic benefits the project would bring to Anglesey were maximised.
He said: "It would be essential to ensure that local businesses benefit from contracts on the site and from supply chain opportunities, and this will need to be built into any consents.
"Given the job losses that we have had on the island during the last 18 months this economic boost would be very welcome."
Anglesey Aluminium ended smelting operations on the island last year, with the loss of almost 400 jobs.
Albert Owen, Labour MP for Ynys Mon, said the decision was a "vote of confidence in Anglesey, its workforce and community".
He said he was not concerned about problems hitting the planning process.
"I think people understand the economic, social and environmental issues," he said.
The land at Wylfa, near Cemaes Bay, was acquired by Horizon from the Nuclear Decommission Authority in May 2008.
'Vital contribution'
Alan Smith, Horizon's Wylfa Project Manager, said the plant "would make a vital contribution to meeting the country's energy needs and tackling the challenge of climate change".
Dylan Morgan, from campaign group People Against Wylfa B, said nuclear power was a "failed 20th Century technology".
He told BBC Radio Wales that the proposed plant would create nuclear waste that was "twice as radioactive" as materials created by current nuclear energy sites.
He said: "The [UK] government has no idea what to with nuclear waste generated over the last 50 years, let alone waste from any new reactor."
He said the government had admitted that waste from a plant like Wylfa B would have to be kept in "so-called interim storage" on the site where it was produced.
A protest will be held on Wednesday to demonstrate the traffic problems the island already faces, and highlight the impact this would have if people had to be evacuated because of an accident at the proposed reactor.
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