View on the ground

Wylfa

Wylfa, on the Island of Anglesey, was one of the eleven sites that could potentially host a new nuclear station included on the Government’s list published on 15th April 2009. Wylfa was also included on the final list of ten nominated sites which was issued on 9th November 2009 (It was proposed to drop Dungeness from the list). This was part of a consultation on Draft National Policy Statements (NPSs) on Energy Infrastructure. The draft Nuclear NPS included a site assessment for Wylfa. The consultation closed on 22nd February 2010. The Government says it is now considering the consultation responses and will publish a formal response document later in 2010 together with the final National Policy Statements. Under the new Planning Act the finalised Nuclear NPS will establish the ‘need’ for new reactors, so the subsequent planning process will only deal with site specific issues.

Wylfa is the site of two operating Magnox Reactors, owned by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA). These reactors are being operated, on behalf of the NDA, by Magnox North Ltd. which is a company owned by Energy Solutions. 

The two reactors were originally due to be decommissioned in March 2010 after operating for 39 years but were then given permission to run until the end of 2010.

According to the May 2010 IPC Programme of Anticipated Projects Horizon Nuclear Energy is expected to apply for planning permission for Wylfa in the first quarter of 2012. There is a complication though. It appears EdF doesn’t have to sell the land it owns at Wylfa until it is granted planning permission for two new reactors at both Hinkley Point and Sizewell.

Campaigners staged a protest in April 2010 on the Menai Bridge over plans to build a new power plant on Anglesey.

Plaid Cymru Controversy

Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas - current Presiding Officer of the National Assembly for Wales, member of the House of Lords, and former leader of Plaid Cymru – has publicly backed a new reactor for Wylfa on Anglesey, in contrast to Plaid Cymru's stance on nuclear power.

The website, Politics Cymru, also said Wylfa was causing a headache for the current leader of Plaid Cymru in the National Assembly, Ieuan Wyn Jones AM, who is also Deputy First Minister and Minister for Economy and Transport in the Welsh Assembly Government. His constituency is Ynys Mon (Anglesey).

With concern about unemployment on the island running high after the announcement the aluminium smelter would close at the end of September 2009 with the loss of another 250 jobs and the planned closure of the existing Wylfa reactor due next year, Politics Cymru says Plaid is damned if they do and damned if they don’t. The history of the plant, which is a major electricity user, has been closely tied in to an energy deal with the nuclear power station at Wylfa, but the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority said European Competition rules would not allow them to extend the deal.

It had been hoped, now that the life of Wylfa has been extended by nine months to the end of 2010 that the cheap electricity deal could also be extended, and Anglesey Aluminium was looking at the possibility of building a biomass plant to provide its own electricity. This feasibility study will continue.

Rhian Medi, a Plaid Cymru councillor on Ynys Môn county council, speaking on a BBC Radio Cymru phone-in on 17th September, defended the party's policy of opposing new nuclear build, but the Plaid leader on the council Cllr, Bob Parry supported Dafydd Elis Thomas’ stance. However, several Plaid members backed Cllr Medi, including Rhodri Glyn Thomas, Plaid AM for East Carmarthen and Dinefwr, and by Mabon ap Gwynfor, a young Plaid candidate and grandson of Gwynfor Evans, ex Plaid President and its first MP. Clearly there is a lot of unease in the Party about pro-nuclear comments by Dafydd Elis Thomas and Ieuan Wyn Jones.

Meanwhile, the Welsh Environment Minister, Labour AM Jane Davidson, has supported calls for a public inquiry into whether new reactors are justified under EU Justification Regulations.

Local Group: People Against Wylfa B

Last Updated 4th June 2010 

This section of the website has been developed thanks to funding from Polden-Puckham Charitable Foundation, and the Andrew Wainwright Reform Trust.