nuclear-news

Ministers originally hoped to get the first nuclear power station built by 2017, before revising this to 2018. Now there has been a further slippage, after an updated timetable showed the first station in Somerset is not expected until nearer the end of the decade..….The Coalition’s plans for building eight to 10 nuclear plants over the next decade were described last week as “simply lacking credibility” by peers in the House of Lords. There have been concerns about the high cost and whether the plants can be built quickly enough to meet Britain’s growing need for electricity.

EDF Energy, the company building the first plant, has refused to give a “firm and final completion date” for nuclear power. A spokesman for the company said the 2019 date was only “indicative”…..

Ministers also revealed yesterday that the Government wants to build a plant for processing nuclear waste, just four months after a similar plant costing the taxpayer £1.4 billion was closed……

It will now examine whether this will deliver value for money after the last one was described as “colossally inefficient” by campaign groups. The results of the assessment are expected next year.

Dr Douglas Parr, policy director at Greenpeace UK, warned that the new plant could become a “hugely expensive white elephant”.