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Published:
January 10, 2008
Third
Hinkley Point nuclear reactor moves a step closer
The government gave the go-ahead on Thursday (January 10th) to
a set of new generation nuclear power stations across the UK -
and it looks likely to that Hinkley Point, near Burnham-On-Sea,
will be chosen as the site for one of the new reactor.
While details of exact locations have not been disclosed, it is
expected that Hinkley Point will be picked after a
report last year cited the area as an ideal place for a third
nuclear power station.
Nigel
Cann, station director at Hinkley Point, said: "Hinkley has
got the site, the people and the skills to be involved in building
a new nuclear power plant. It
is really good news for the people of Somerset."
 Hinkley
Point A closed in 2000 and Hinkley Point B, which is to be decommissioned
by 2016, is currently working at 70 per cent of its capacity.
Anti-nuclear
campaigners from Stop Hinkley responded with disappointment on
Thursday to the Government's formal announcement to allow a new
fleet of reactors.
Protestors
from the group were joined outside Hinkley by Burnham-based Parents
Concerned About Hinkley, Taunton's Friends of the Earth, Christian
CND, Sedgemoor and West Somerset Green Party, Taunton Green Party
and the Shut Oldbury Campaign.
If
the protests fail, a new power plant at the site could be up and
running by 2017. Meanwhile, British Energy, which owns Hinkley
Point, says it is undertaking detailed assessments ahead of any
decision, looking at environmental, geological and marine factors.
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Earlier
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Hinkley
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