South Down MP Margaret Ritchie (SDLP) has called on the UK government to shelve plans to build a new nuclear plant at Hinkley Point following reports that the project has serious funding doubts.
Speaking from Westminster Ms Ritchie stated: “The news that two large Chinese nuclear companies (China General Nuclear Power Corporation and the China National Nuclear Power Corporation) could withdraw their support for the new nuclear programme unless they get guarantees from the French Government shows the state of disarray this project is in.
“The financial fiasco of the new nuclear programme gets worse by the day. This decision is a knock on effect of the fiscal uncertainty surrounding Arreva – the French company who were to part fund the new nuclear programme – and there are clearly doubts all round on the merits of investing in expensive nuclear plants.
“Previous errors left us with the enormous burden of decommissioning Sellafield, where just last month the contract had to be stripped from Nuclear Management Partners following a series of costly mistakes and poor decisions. Indeed in the wake of that decision the public will have to foot another £150m bill for a German company to provide a facility to deal with hazardous waste at the site.
“The UK government need to learn from past mistakes and pull the plug on another round of nuclear subsidies,” added Ms Ritchie.
