PAWB have been saying from day one that the cost of nuclear makes Wylfa B highly unlikely. The London Government unable to afford it and private investors unwilling to bet on projects with so many problems.

The announcement comes just over a year after the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

Since Fukushima the German Government has said that they would not build any more nuclear power plants. As both the companies in the Horizon consortium (RWE npower and E.ON) are German, it became highly unlikely that they would carry on with Wylfa.

Politicians fail the Island

It is becoming more obvious that the politicians; and council’s ‘promise’ and ‘assurances’ of new jobs as a result of Wylfa B has just been a cynical attempt to buy votes and turn attention from their own failures

Nuclear industry financial problems grow

A similar announcement to Horizon’s is expected from EDF (Électricité de France) who were hoping to build a new nuclear power plant at Hinkley, Somerset. There have been massive anti-nuclear protests in France whilst reactors being built in France and Finland are way behind schedule and massively over budget.

Full Press Release:

POBL ATAL WYLFA B / PEOPLE AGAINST WYLFA B

PAWB welcomes the decisions by the boards of RWE npower an E.On to withdraw their joint bid under the name of Horizon Nuclear Power to build new nuclear complexes at Wylfa and Oldbury in Gloucestershire. This comes as no surprise as ther have been numerous reports over the past year casting doubt over the economic viability of such huge and highly risky projects. On Monday this week, Mark Muldowney, the head of energy advisory at the largest bank in Europe BNP Paribas said that the investment climate for new nuclear power is not good. He continued by saying:
“Rating agencies have no clear ideas on nuclear power but they don’t like it.”

Already we have heard political representatives from Ynys Môn County Council, The National Assembly and Westminster expressing hope that Horizon will find a buyer for the Wylfa site. PAWB maintains that these hopes are false, because if two major multinational companies have decided to pull out, who do they seriously expect to come forward with a new nuclear bid?

PAWB calls on politicians at all levels to focus their efforts in developing Wales as a pioneering country in renewable energy technologies. The recently opened Canolfan Ynni at Coleg Menai should now be used to its full potential as a centre for developing renewable energy technologies. Scotland under the leadership of Alex Salmond’s SNP government has shown that a nuclear free renewable energy based future is achievable as investment in mature renewable technologies is already becoming a reality.

PAWB will continue campaigning against nuclear power by keeping a watchful eye on the present Wylfa station as it approaches the decommissioning stage and to discourage potential investors from buying land at Wylfa for nuclear new build. We shall also work to galvanise an all Wales campaign in support of our fellow campaigners in the South West of England who are battling EDF’s plants to build two giant EPR Areva reactors at Hinkley Point. Their campaign has gained considerable momentum in the past few months, and today’s announcement by Horizon will give them a major boost. The economic case for Hinkley Point C is just as shaky as the ones for Wylfa and Oldbury.