The government has this week approved ten sites in the UK for new nuclear power stations – including Hinkley Point, near Burnham-On-Sea.
While a new Hinkley plant could create up to 4,000 jobs during the construction and then up to 700 jobs for the next 60 years, some local groups believe the proposed expansion will be bad for the area.
Protest group Stop Hinkley has long campaigned against nuclear power in our area, claiming it is not cheap and is unsafe.
The group also believes that radioactive pollution has increased cancer deaths in the Burnham-On-Sea area.
The group has also highlighted the fact that the new generation of power stations will store nuclear waste on site until a permanent repository is found – and this is an unknown length of time which, could potentially take decades.
David Taylor, from Stop Hinkley, said: “It is a major concern. The waste is more toxic than the waste we had before. It’s going to be very long lived, and how can we contain nuclear waste safely over that period of time – 160 years?”
The main concern voiced by Sedgemoor District Council is the risks associated with storing nuclear waste, and how well those risks would be minimised by EDF.
Kerry Rickards, chief executive at the council, said: “They’ve got to make sure they’ve covered the storage angle. They deem that as temporary storage but temporary in nuclear terms is 70 – 80 years.”
“We, as a council, along with West Somerset and our colleagues at the county council, will be making sure that the contractor and government are aware that this is an increased risk for our communities and as such the communities need to get some benefit out of that.”
Mr Rickards believes the council could receive a pay-off in the region of £10m, as well as £1.5m a year for incurring the risks of having a nuclear power station in the county. He was basing these estimates from the sums received by Copeland Borough Council in Cumbria about 18 months ago.
EDF Energy says the new nuclear power station, if built, will create up to 4,000 jobs during the construction and then up to 700 jobs for the next 60 years while the station is in operation.
In response to concerns raised by Stop Hinkley and Sedgemoor District Council, the head of nuclear policy, Nigel Knee, said: “For any new power station any spent fuel will be stored on the power station site until a national repository is available.”
“That’s no different to what happens now with our with our Sizewell B power station in Suffolk which is the same sort of power station we are proposing at Hinkley Point.”
The Liberal Democrats claim residents near proposed sites risked being excluded from decision-making, saying what was “being disposed of is not nuclear waste but the democratic process”.
Stage one of the public consultation by EDF Energy, the company which would build the reactor should it be approved, is set to begin shortly. A consultation exhibition will be held on Friday December 11th in The Princess from 2pm-8pm.
