View on the ground

News from proposed nuclear sites around the country

The purchase of British Energy by the mainly French Government-owned company EDF was approved by the European Commission in December 2008. British Gas owner, Centrica, won approval from the Office of Fair Trading to buy a 20% stake in British Energy from EDF in August 2009. Centrica and EDF will now form an 80-20 joint venture to build four new reactors in the UK – two at Hinkley in Somerset and two at Sizewell in Suffolk. EDF will sell off land at other BE sites so that rival companies can develop new reactors at either Dungeness in Kent or Heysham in Lancashire. It may also sell land at Bradwell in Essex.

The UK Government’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) has sold land at Wylfa on Anglesey, and Oldbury in Gloucestershire to a consortium of two German companies – Eon and RWE. It is also planning to sell land at Sellafield in Cumbria which it says is suitable for a new reactor.

RWE has acquired two green field sites elsewhere in Cumbria – at Braystones, near Egremont, and Kirksanton, near Millom – both of which have been shortlisted by the Government as potential sites for a nuclear power station.

Meanwhile the Government has invited councils (municipalities) in England and Wales to volunteer to host a nuclear waste dump. Copeland Borough Council (site of the Sellafield nuclear facility) and Allerdale Borough Council, both in West Cumbria have both indicated they might be prepared to host a nuclear waste dump. And Cumbria County Council has agreed to make an “expression of interest” for those parts of the County covered by the two boroughs.

The section includes news reports from campaigners and local media near these proposed sites to give us all the ‘view on the ground’.

Last Updated 14th August 2009

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