View on the ground

Dungeness

Dungeness is one of the eleven sites that could potentially host a new nuclear station included on the Government’s list published on 15th April 2009.

Home to two closed Magnox reactors (Dungeness A), owned by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, and two operating Advanced Gas-cooled Reactors (Dungeness B) on the south Kent coast between Hastings and Folkestone.

British Energy , owner and operator of Dungeness B nuclear power station, held six public meetings in January, in and around Romney Marsh, to discuss the potential for new nuclear build at the Dungeness site. The meetings provided an update on plans to build at least one new reactor unit of up to 1600MW at Dungeness. Staff from British Energy and Royal Haskoning, an environmental consultant firm carrying out impact assessments on British Energy's potential new build projects, were present.

As part of its deal with competition authorities to buy British Energy, EDF Energy agreed to sell land at either Dungeness or Heysham. It announced a process for choosing a prospective buyer in early May 2009.

Middlesex University Flood Hazard Research Centre looked at the effect of expected sea level rises and increases in storm surge over the next 200 years at Dungeness and concluded the site appears to be highly threatened. Defending the site is "likely to become economically unsustainable". It cannot be considered a suitable location for a new reactor.

Local Group: Kent Against a Radioactive Environment

Last Updated 8th June 2009

This section of the website has been developed thanks to funding from Polden-Puckham Charitable Foundation.