PAWB have welcomed a decision by Hitachi to pull out of plans to build a new nuclear power station at Wylfa on Anglesey. The site was close to the old nuclear plant now being decommissioned;
“As expected Hitachi is to abandon all plans to build a nuclear power station at Wylfa. Well over a decade has been wasted by our politicians in supporting Wylfa B. For years, PAWB has agreed with experts around the world who warned that massive nuclear projects are unlikely to be commercially successful. All of the nuclear industry’s arguments have been negated by the growth of sustainable methods of energy production for continually falling costs. This is the reality that has been ignored, while still believing in the promises of jobs.”
Hitachi have also scrapped plans for a new plant at Oldbury in England.
The original nuclear site at Wylfa was the location of the most serious incident after the Windscale fire when in 1993 a refueling gantry collapsed and fell into the reactor. The operators at the time Nuclear Electric were fined a quarter of a million pounds and had to pay £138,000 in costs after being prosecuted by the HSE.
The Celtic League welcome the news about Wylfa and the other new build the League adopted a resolution of opposition to new build nuclear plants at its AGM in Breizh almost two decades ago.
Bernard Moffatt
Assistant General Secretary (16th September 2020)
