Speaking of Anglesey, the Government has today issued a list of 11 sites proposed for the construction of new nuclear power stations.
The list includes Wylfa; this will be generally welcomed on the island, even by the local Assembly member, Mr Ieuan Wyn Jones, who has trenchantly declared that “the case for nuclear power has been made”. As I have blogged previously, his stance may put him, bizarrely, at odds with the party he leads, which is deeply anti-nuclear. The official response of Plaid Cymru to the announcement will, therefore, be most interesting.
The development of a new generation of nuclear power stations will be an important contribution to the fulfilment of the UK’s carbon reduction target. The only pity is that the Government vacillated for so long – over a decade – before developing its energy policy.
DECC should be publishing its national policy statement in late summer this year, which leaves the way clear for the consent process, under the new single consent regime, to commence fairly shortly afterwards.
The first of the new reactors, which may include Wylfa, should be operational by 2018. This will be too late, however, to save Anglesey Aluminium, which is presently in a 90-day pre-redundancy consultation period. There, the immediate hopes for survival are pinned on finding a new, cheap supply of power after the contract with Wylfa expires in September this year.
