Flood no bar to N-plant
A NEW generation of nuclear power stations could be built in flood-risk or “environmentally protected” areas, under proposed rules set out by the Government today.
Green safeguards are listed among “discretionary” criteria ministers intend to use to decide where to put the controversial reactors - not those that would instantly rule out a site.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown is believed to want up to eight new reactors as part of a global “renaissance of nuclear power” to help end reliance on fossil fuels.
Under the Strategic Siting Assessment system proposed by Business Secretary John Hutton, nominations for “credible” sites backed by nuclear firms will be invited early next year.
Sites at risk of earthquake would be instantly ruled out, but concerns of flood risk, coastal conditions and “environmentally-protected” status would be considered “less absolute” and could be overridden.
The Government hopes building work could start as early as 2013, with the first electricity being produced four years later.
