foecardiff
Stop Hinkley C nuclear plant
Sat 20th Aug 11 — Chris
Hinkley Point on the Somerset coast near Bridgewater is the site of two existing nuclear power stations. It is just 16 miles across the Severn Estuary from Cardiff.
The oldest nuclear power station, Hinkley A closed in 2000 and is being decomissioned. Hinkley B is still operating, despite having cracks in the reactor core where the nuclear reactions take place. It is due to close in 2016.
In 2008 the French energy company Electricite de France (EdF) bought the site. EdF now plans to build the largest nuclear power station in the country - two 1,600 Megawatt reactors next to the existing Hinkley plants. The new development would be called Hinkley C.
This would be the first new nuclear power station in Britain for over 20 years. It is part of a government plan for at least ten new nuclear power stations around Britain.
The government says that Hinkley C will be safe, economic, and is urgently needed to combat climate change. Friends of the Earth disagrees.
There have been major problems with the construction of Unit 3 at the Olkiluoto Nuclear Power Plant in Finland which is the prototype of the Hinkley C reactor. The original commissioning date for the Olkiluoto reactor was May 2009. However, in May 2009 The Times reported that the plant was "at least three and a half years behind schedule and more than 50 percent over-budget".
Finnish nuclear safety regulator, STUK, has heavily criticised the builders, Areva NP, over poor workmanship on the welding of pipes and the poor design of the control and protection systems.
The second criticism is particularly worrying. The new reactors must have good safety systems because the nuclear fuel they plan to use is much more radioactive than existing reactor fuel.
One safety report on Hinkley C shows if a serious accident occurred up to 28,000 lives could be lost.
Take action
The Stop Hinkley campaign have collected over nine thousand signatures on the Stop Hinkley petition. Their goal is at least ten thousand.