Wales at risk from nuclear power station in Somerset

30 September 2011

A demonstration to be held outside Hinkley Point nuclear power station on Monday (3 October) will include campaigners from Wales, concerned about the threat a new nuclear plant could pose to more than a million people in south Wales.

The new nuclear power station proposed for the Somerset site would be just 15 miles from Barry, Wales' fourth largest conurbation. Cardiff and Newport are both less than 30 miles away.

Gareth Clubb, Director of Friends of the Earth Cymru said:

"When the Fukushima nuclear power station failed so disastrously in Japan earlier this year, President Obama ordered the evacuation of all US citizens within a 50 mile radius of the disaster site.

"A similar exclusion zone as a result of an explosion at Hinkley would mean the evacuation of more than one million people in Wales. Everyone in the Vale of Glamorgan, Cardiff, Newport, Monmouthshire, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Bridgend, Torfaen, Blaenau Gwent, Merthyr Tudful, Caerffili, Neath Port Talbot and the city of Swansea would have to leave their homes.

"What this would mean for Wales is the unthinkable - a total breakdown of governance, irrecoverable economic and environmental damage, and social collapse.

"Nuclear power presents massive risks to us now and to future generations, yet makes a very small contribution to energy provision.

"The UK doesn't need nuclear power - it's an expensive and dangerous distraction that diverts resources and political attention away from cleaner and safer ways of providing the energy we need."

For further information, please contact Friends of the Earth Cymru on 029 2022 9577