nuclear-news

UK nuclear industry teetering as two sites dropped from plan

“The apparent withdrawal of these two sites, in the heartland of the nuclear industry, is excellent news for local people”. – Jean McSorley

(UK) Greenfield sites dropped from list of new nuclear reactors, Two sites in Cumbria appear to have been dropped from the government’s list of proposed areas for new reactors  Tim Webb * guardian.co.uk,   13 October 2010 The government has scrapped plans to build nuclear reactors on greenfield sites, according to documents seen by the Guardian, in the latest blow to the industry’s stuttering programme.

Two sites – at Kirksanton and Braystones in Cumbria – appear to have been dropped from a list that could be announced as early as next week.

German energy firm RWE paid undisclosed sums last year for the two sites, which are large enough for two reactors each and are near Sellafield, the biggest employer in the region. The eight remaining sites in England and Wales are all near existing reactors. These will be put forward for another round of consultation when the government publishes its revised national energy policy statements.

Today two documents appeared on the Department of Energy and Climate Change’s website which said that Kirkstanton and Braystones had not been found suitable “for the deployment of a nuclear power station by 2025″ and were therefore “not within the revised draft nuclear NPS [national policy statement]”. The documents, apparently published by mistake, were quickly removed. The department declined declined to comment.

Nuclear companies believe the government’s abolition of the new planning quango, the Infrastructure Planning Commission, will make it harder to get permission for new reactors, particularly on greenfield sites.

Jean McSorley, a Greenpeace consultant who lives in Cumbria and has campaigned against the planned reactors there, said: “The apparent withdrawal of these two sites, in the heartland of the nuclear industry, is excellent news for local people. The nuclear industry and Copeland district council assumed that local people would accept the plans. Dropping the only greenfield sites put forward for new reactors in the UK also strikes a blow for the government’s new-build programme.”

Greenfield sites dropped from list of new nuclear reactors | Business | The Guardian

October 14, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, UK | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, reactors, uranium