No New Year for Dungeness A: 41 and Out

2.29.34pm GMT Sun 31st Dec 2006

Dungeness A nuclear power plant in Shepway, which has been generating electricity for 41 years, had its two reactors shut down on New Year's Eve afternoon.

Dungeness A was built right on the shoreline of Romney Marsh in Shepway in the 1960s. It began producing power in 1965 and was kept in operation for 16 years beyond its original end date in 1990.

The two nuclear reactors are being switched off at different times on New Year's Eve, before a decommissioning and site clearance programme begins. But the end of electricity production at Dungeness A does not mean hundreds of jobs suddenly being lost.

New roles will be created over at least a 25-year period as the site is decommissioned and the radioactive material slowly removed. A British Nuclear Group spokesman said: "It takes more people to bring down a nuclear power plant than it does to run it."

Neighbouring Dungeness B nuclear power station is due to continue operations to 2018.

The Liberal Democrats are opposed to building new nuclear power stations in future, pointing out the huge costs of decommissioning nuclear power stations which is now estimated at £70 billion and rising. Lib Dem Environment spokesman Chris Huhne said:

"If we opt for a new generation of nuclear reactors, future generations may rue the day. We will be encumbering them with high costs and enormous and unknowable liabilities. We will miss a key opportunity to pioneer a green future."

Related Link:

Chris Huhne - Liberal Democrat Environment Spokesman - on new Nuclear Power stations