nuclear-news

Planning inspectors recommended against Wylfa Newydd project on Anglesey

Planning inspectors recommended refusal for new nuclear power plant, Nation Cymru 5th February 2021, Gareth Williams, local democracy reporter

Plans to build a new nuclear power station were likely to be refused even before the project was shelved by backers.

UK Government appointed planning inspectors had recommended that the Wylfa Newydd project on Anglesey be rejected over a number of concerns from experts.

The application has since been withdrawn after Hitachi, the company behind the project, decided that the power plant was too expensive to build without a funding deal with the UK Government in place.

Energy company Horizon – a subsidiary of Hitatchi – needed an Approval of the Development Consent Order (DCO) to allow the £16bn project to go ahead.

DCOs are needed for any planning application regarded as a major UK infrastructure project and DCO process for Wylfa Newydd had been underway since 2018.

The Planning Inspectorate’s conclusion, which was made public for the first time on Thursday, was intended to be considered as a recommendation – with the final decision down to the UK Government.

But expert planning officers felt that the scheme would fail to meet some of the United Nations’ biological diversity standards.

Inspectors also told UK Government ministers it had concerns over the project’s impact on the local economy, housing stock and the Welsh language…..

The findings of the planning inspectors’ report, which were made public for the first time on Thursday, said there was a lack of scientific evidence put forward by developers to demonstrate that the Arctic and Sandwich tern populations around the Cemlyn Bay area, where the plant was set to be built, would not be disturbed by construction.

There were fears that these birds would subsequently abandon nearby Cemlyn Bay as a result.

It also raised wider concerns over the general impact on Cemlyn Bay, the Cae Gwyn site of special scientific interest and Tre’r Gof……..

It went on to conclude: “Having regard to all the matters referred in this report, the ExA’s conclusion is that, on balance, the matters weighing against the proposed development outweigh the matters weighing in favour of it.

“The ExA therefore finds the case for development is not made and it recommends accordingly.”

‘Pulling the plug’ 

Before pulling the plug on the DCO application last month, Hitachi confirmed that talks had been taking place with potential new investors.  But with no concrete offer forthcoming, Hitachi announced it would wind up its Horizon Nuclear Power subsidiary by March 2021………  https://nation.cymru/news/planning-inspectors-recommended-refusal-for-new-nuclear-power-plant/

Daily Post 5th Feb 2021, The UK’s Planning Inspectorate has released its report into Wylfa Newydd –
showing they had recommended refusal over biodiversity issues.

https://www.business-live.co.uk/economic-development/wylfa-newydd-planning-inspectorate-releases-19774231

February 8, 2021 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, politics, UK | Leave a comment

Britain’s unaffordable nuclear power plans collapse, one by one

Times 31st Jan 2021, Nuclear winter for Britain as power plants close. Hinkley Point is last man standing as other power stations are scrapped. Hitachi president Hiroaki Nakanishi had a grand dream when
the Japanese giant paid £696 million for the right to build two nuclear power stations in the UK. “Today starts our 100-year commitment to the UK and its vision to achieve a long-term, secure, low- carbon and affordable energy supply,” declared Nakanishi in 2012, as he signed a deal to buy the Horizon nuclear project from Germany’s RWE and Eon.

Nakanishi’s plan was to use the UK as a shop window for its reactors, installing them at Wylfa on Anglesey in north Wales and Oldbury-on-Severn in south Gloucestershire. Wylfa would provide enough power to supply the whole of Wales. Together, the two sites could power about 10 million homes.

Last week, that bold vision lay in tatters as Hitachi pulled down the shutters on Horizon, which it will wind up by the end of March. It has cancelled its application for a development consent order — a formal process needed to secure planning permission — for the £20 billion Wylfa Newydd plant, despite having spent £2 billion exploring every aspect of the project, from the rock strata on the island to the location of Roman ruins.

British Gas parent Centrica scrapped plans to invest in new nuclear power in 2013and for the past few years has been trying to sell its 20 per cent stake in the existing fleet of British Energy plants. Russian and Canadian operators have also abandoned attempts to build reactors in this country.

Another planned EDF plant, at Sizewell in Suffolk, has been given encouragement by the government, but EDF faces years of negotiations with ministers over the financial structure of a deal.

CGN hopes to install its home-grown reactor, the Hualong One, at Bradwell-on-Sea in Essex, but must overcome opposition from Tory MPs and the United States.

The biggest obstacles to nuclear have always been cost and risk. The retreat of Hitachi and Toshiba showed that only governments dare take the risk of building nuclear stations —
particularly when they are the first of a new design. Theresa May’s government eventually offered to take a third of the equity in Horizon alongside the Japanese government and Hitachi. Boris Johnson’s administration is exploring a new financial model, the regulated asset base, where investors could earn a return during construction.

All that was too late for Horizon, led by Duncan Hawthorne. In a letter to the unions
that had begged Hitachi to grant the project a reprieve, executive Toshikazu Nishino said that it had not received adequate backing from government.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/nuclear-winter-for-britain-as-power-plants-close-gb8c5dx07

February 1, 2021 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, politics, UK | Leave a comment

It is all over for Britain’s £20bn Wylfa nuclear project

Wylfa: End for £20bn nuclear plant bid as plans ditched,  It is all over for the £20bn project to build a new nuclear power plant on Anglesey, after developers dropped their planning bid.

Horizon Nuclear Power has pulled a request to approve reactor designs at Wylfa, blaming UK government funding options as one reason.

Japanese backers Hitachi pulled out of the development last September.

Another firm has since unveiled plans for a smaller hybrid nuclear and wind plant on a separate site at Wylfa.

The Development Consent Order (DCO) process, which is the name given to planning applications for major UK infrastructure projects such as Wylfa, has been under consideration since June 2018.

A decision was due to be made on the plan by the UK’s business and energy secretary at the end of April, following a series of requests by Horizon to extend the process while it held talks with other interested parties.

But Horizon has now written to the Planning Inspectorate and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, confirming the end of the troubled project.

Its letter said negotiations on the future of Wylfa had been “positive and encouraging”.

However, it added: “They have not, unfortunately, led to any definitive proposal that would have allowed the transfer to some new development entity.

“In light of this and in the absence of a new funding policy from HM Government, Hitachi Ltd., has taken the decision to wind-up Horizon as an active development entity by 31 March 2021.

“As a result, we must now, regretfully, withdraw the application.”…… https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-55833186

January 28, 2021 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, politics, UK | Leave a comment