Ritchie urges rethink on new nuclear power station near Sellafield
SDLP MP for South Down, Margaret Ritchie, has called on the Prime Minister to reconsider the development of a new nuclear power station at Moorside, near Sellafield, as the site investigation work reaches its final stages in anticipation of a full project design.
Speaking to Newry Times, Ritchie said, “From staff shortages to the unsafe storage of radioactive materials, BBC’s Panorama exposed a catalogue of safety hazards at Sellafield.
“Yet, just weeks later, the path is being cleared to establish a new site at Moorside, which is next door to Sellafield.
“The existing site at Sellafield is only 50 miles across the Irish Sea from my constituency of South Down and the possibility of yet another site in Moorside, and all of the accompanying safety risks this poses, should ring alarm bells for the Executive.
“The government’s focus should be shifting to a policy of an accelerated nuclear decommissioning process and the establishment of secure, long-term containment strategy for the existing nuclear waste sitting in Sellafield,” she insisted.
“Instead, we have seen the approval of the costly Hinkley Point and now further movement towards another site at Moorside.
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Ritchie added, “The prospect of further development and a new station when there are major safety risks at the existing plant is preposterous and demands a rethink by the Prime Minister.”
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