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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