‘Stop Hinkley’ campaigners have reacted angrily to the announcement that French company EDF has bought British Energy, the owner of Hinkley Point B, paving the way to the expansion of the nuclear power station near Burnham-On-Sea.
British Energy, the UK’s main nuclear power generator, was officially bought by French energy group EDF on Wednesday (September 24th) in a £12.4bn deal.
EDF has already begun extensive drilling on the site they have bought to the west of the existing Hinkley complex and Stop Hinkley claims that buying British Energy will allow them room to build two nuclear reactors.
Jim Duffy, coordinator for Stop Hinkley, told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “It’s a sad week, paving the way to a nuclear expansion at Hinkley Point.”
“The monstrous sized reactors will be a blot from the Quantock Hills, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and they’ll produce radioactive discharges into the estuary which, from our own studies, will harm the health of coastal populations nearby.”
“High burn-up spent fuel will remain at Hinkley for decades. The Government has sewn up the planning process so we can’t cross-examine the industry or bring our own experts to inquiries.”
“But we don’t need to go down this road as reports show we don’t need nuclear electricity which is only a portion of the energy we use. The government’s own renewables targets easily overshadow the 18 percent of electricity we get from nuclear and can do that more quickly.”
But Nigel Cann, station director of Hinkley Point B, (pictured right) welcomed the news regarding EDF in a press statement, saying: “It’s potentially great news. It would bring together two superb nuclear operators and will enable us to move ahead with developing new nuclear power stations.”
“Here at Hinkley Point B each and every one of our 540 employees and our contract partners remain focussed on the safe operation of the station. We recognise that any potential new build depends on the trust and confidence of the local community and, whatever the outcome of this offer, we are determined to retain that support.”
“It is not yet certain that this offer will succeed. It is subject to acceptance by shareholders and clearance by the appropriate competition authorities. This will take several months.”
“Nothing changes immediately as a result of this announcement. We will continue to run this station safely and reliably, producing low carbon electricity for the UK and in this respect it is ‘business as usual’.”
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