Nuclear is on, in case you forgot
Man, this government is slow!
The cabinet officially gave the green light to new nuclear power station a year ago and yet only now we're hearing they're starting the process to select new sites.
The quartet named this time includes Sellafield, Wylfa, Oldbury and Bradwell. Only Bradwell was named before. The other three were Sizewell, Hinkley Point and Dungeness.
Wylfa is a probably a good move, although probably a little too late. There is a aluminium smelters nearby, which has depended on the current Magnox reactors there for their energy. The local community (for the most part) and the trade unions are strongly in support of replacing the facility so that the Anglesey Aluminium facility can continue to operate. Even the Plaid Cymru assembly member has voiced some support. The question remains whether the proposed Wylfa B can arrive in time, given how much the government is dragging their feet.
Sellafield seems out of place given that most of the energy consumption is in the South of Great Britain, but the infrastructure is in place (Calder Hall used to operate there) and it is obviously convenient from an operational point of view to have fuel cycle facilities right next door.
Oldbury is well placed in Gloucestershire as Bradwell is in Essex.
What happened to Dungeness, Sizewell and Hinkley Point is unclear. They could be brought up at a later time in the process although the on-again-off-again talk about prospective sites makes it look like this is just going round in circles. Sizewell will be active for a long time to come given the prescence of the newest reactor and Hinkley Point and Dungeness both have AGRs meaning they still have some life left to them (though Dungeness was probably dismissed because of its proximity to Heathrow - can't make it too easy for the Usual Suspects to fight a war on two fronts).
This is the first signs of progress we've heard for a while. I hope things really ramp up now. Recession aside, we need to get to work on infrastructure replacement as soon as possible.
