‘Hinkley decision defies economic, environmental and safety considerations’ – Ritchie

SDLP South Down MP Margaret Ritchie has criticised the Prime Minister for her decision to proceed with the planned construction of a new nuclear reactor at Hinkley Point.

Speaking to Newry Times, she said, “The tunnel vision of the Prime Minister on the issue of nuclear power is astonishing. The construction of a new reactor at Hinkley will lumber untold future generations with a toxic legacy that will cause irreparable damage to public health and the environment.

“Since day one these plans in particular have been plagued with problems. The reactor design is widely considered to be outdated and problematic with similar designs in Finland and France running years behind schedule and well over budget.

“The British Government have also had to include a disreputable Chinese state energy company after French investors got cold feet, raising serious security concerns about the plant.

“Only last week we woke up to headlines about the severe safety and security failings at the former Sellafield site. Unbelievably, when this story broke, proponents of the current Hinkley plans claimed that with the benefit of hindsight of course we shouldn’t have invested in nuclear power, following with “we are where we are”.

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Ritchie added, “This is a classic example of history repeating itself. The decision to push ahead with these plans against public and expert opinion defies economic, environmental and safety considerations.”

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Posted by Newry Times News on Sep 15 2016. Filed under Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry