Government ‘dozing at wheel’ over UK nuclear power plans. Irish Government and public urged to comment on Hinkley facility before April 17th. The UK’s nuclear power expansion programme, including the building of the Hinkley Point C facility in Somerset, poses an unacceptable risk to the island of Ireland, according to an alliance of political parties and environmental groups. Green Party Senator Grace O’Sullivan said the Government “has been dozing at the wheel… and essentially failed the Irish people because we have not had timely opportunity to be consulted” about Hinkley, which is located less than 250km from south east Ireland. Speaking at a press conference in Dublin, she said the UK government was found to have failed to consult neighbouring states under the UN Espoo Convention. After a five-year legal battle, in which Irish environmental groups – An Taisce, Friends of the Irish Environment and the Environmental Pillar – fought to uphold the rights of the Irish public, “a long overdue consultation” began on February 20th. “People can make their submissions to their relevant local authority. We strongly encourage them to do so before April 17th.”
Irish Times 29th March 2018 read more »
EDF is making good progress with its supply chain management at Hinkley C, but there are still some areas that require improvement, according to the leading nuclear watchdog. The Office for Nuclear Regulation ONR recently carried out an inspection of supply chain arrangements after records had found to be falsified at one of the project’s key suppliers – Areva’s Creusot Forge in France, now known as Framatome. The regulator found good progress had been made, with improvements in some area of the supply chain management by the nuclear site licensee NNB GenCo. However the ONR identified five key areas where ‘further improvements are required’ ahead of the planned acceleration of construction and manufacturing at the Somerset site. ONR has rated the overall inspection finding as ‘amber’. This means that some arrangements are below standard and ONR is seeking improvements against a number of Regulatory Issues.
Somerset County Gazette 30th March 2018 read more »