Sargent and Cuffe to discuss safety concerns at Wylfa nuclear power station in Wales tomorrow, Monday 23 May 2005

Deputy Sargent and Deputy Cuffe will inspect the Wylfa Plant as part of the Green Party campaign against nuclear power. They will discuss safety concerns directly with the plant's operators. As recently as 2003, both reactors at Wylfa were shut down for several weeks for safety checks. That same year, BNFL confirmed that carbon dioxide gas, used as a coolant in the reactors, had escaped from storage tanks. Wylfa also suffered a 15-month shutdown, starting in April 2000, in order to deal with a number of problems.

Deputy Sargent said today that, “Wylfa is the nuclear power station closest to Ireland and is only 60 miles from the Irish coast. During our visit tomorrow we aim to meet with management, express our safety concerns to them, listen to their views, and view the plant at first hand.”

“The incoming UK government appears to be considering building new nuclear power plants despite the recent incident in mid-April at the THORP reprocessing plant at Sellafield in Cumbria. But last month’s enormous leak of twenty tonnes of uranium and plutonium fuel – large enough to fill a swimming pool - underlined once again the dangers inherent in nuclear power.”

“And now it appears that the new owners of Sellafield, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), plan to keep Thorp, the main reprocessing facility shut permanently. The Green Party will continue to oppose nuclear power and campaign for increased clean green energies and alternative fuels.”

Deputy Cuffe said that, “Next Thursday the Arklow offshore windfarm will officially open. The eight turbines at that windfarm are the largest in the world and are capable of generating 25 megawatts of electricity.”

“The Wylfa nuclear power station generates about 600 megawatts - a wind turbine produces 3.6 megawatts. Therefore 300 wind turbines could exceed the output of the Wylfa Plant.”

“Modern wind generators now have the output to substitute for nuclear stations and are a much safer and cleaner method of energy production,” concluded deputy Cuffe.