Anti-nuclear campaigners are concerned a target date for the decommissioning of Bradwell Power Station has slipped. Magnox, which runs the site, has admitted an early target of closing the power station by the end of 2015 has not been reached, but maintains it will still be closed before the originally proposed 2027. However the Bradwell Against New Nuclear Group (BANNG) says it is indignant about the delay, and remains concerned that the changed timescales means a process of releasing low-level nuclear waste into the Blackwater estuary – a method approved by regulators – will now continue for longer. Varrie Blowers, BANNG secretary, said: “This is scandalous “The deadline for the entry of the former Bradwell nuclear power station into its Care and Maintenance state keeps shifting. At the Local Communities Liaison Committee meeting on June 3 it was announced the deadline had changed from the much-vaunted date of 2015. “It has now changed again from 2017 to 2019, and no real reasons have been given. “I would hazard a guess there are problems with the experimental accelerated dissolution process for the fuel element debris. “This extension means that radioactive discharges into the shallow Blackwater estuary will continue for years to come.”
East Anglian Daily Times 4th Jan 2016 read more »