Potential nuclear sites unveiled
Updated on 15 April 2009
A list of 11 potential nuclear power station sites has been published, sparking anger from environmentalists.
Nine of the locations have previously been home to reactors - including Dungeness in Kent and Sizewell in Suffolk - while two others are close to the former Sellafield reactor site in Cumbria.
The sites - nominated by companies interested in building the stations, including energy giants EDF, E.ON and RWE, and by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority - could be operational by 2025.
The potential locations are: Dungeness in Kent; Sizewell in Suffolk; Hartlepool in Cleveland; Heysham in Lancashire; Sellafield in Cumbria; Braystones in Cumbria; Kirksanton in Cumbria; Wylfa Peninsula in Anglesey; Oldbury in Gloucestershire; Hinkley Point in Somerset and Bradwell in Essex.
Members of the public will be asked for their views during a month-long consultation, with the expectation of a shortlist being drawn up.
Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband said: "This is another important step towards a new generation of nuclear power stations. I want to listen to what people have to say about these nominations and I encourage people to log on to our website, read the information and let us have their comments."
"Nuclear power is part of the low carbon future for Britain. It also has the potential to offer thousands of jobs to the UK and multi-million pound opportunities to British businesses."
But Friends of the Earth energy campaigner Robin Webster said "breathing new life into the failed nuclear experiment" was not the answer to the UK's energy problems, adding: "Nuclear power leaves a deadly legacy of radioactive waste that remains highly dangerous for tens of thousands of years and costs tens of billions of pounds to manage."
Charles Barnett, chairman of the Shutdown Sizewell Campaign, said: "The Government is going down the wrong path in proposing that we should have more nuclear power stations. They are not safe. With the heightened risk of terrorism, it's foolhardy to build more."
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