Support our Nation today - please donate here
News

Anti-nuclear campaign group to protest outside of constituency office of Ynys Môn MP over Wylfa plans

07 Apr 2022 3 minute read
Virginia Crosbie, left, and Wylfa Power Station. Picture by Reading Tom (CC BY 2.0)

An anti-nuclear campaign group are to protest outside the office of Ynys Môn’s MPs over plans to build a new nuclear power plant on the island.

The UK Government this morning confirmed its intention to push ahead with a nuclear project at the Wylfa site on the island of Anglesey.

People Against Wylfa B (PAWB) said that the UK’s energy needs could be met with renewable energy and that ministerial claims that nuclear was necessary to support weather-dependent renewables was “simply not true”.

Ynys Môn’s MP who has described herself as an ‘Atomic Kitten’ has been a persistent advocate of a new nuclear plant on Anglesey.

A spokesperson for PAWB, Neil Crumpton, however said that the Prime Minister should not be “gung ho” about nuclear power.

“It is a complex and radio-toxic technology,” he said. “The UK should be showing the world how wind and solar energy, when backed-up by hydrogen-fired power stations, would provide reliable electricity to consumers no matter what the weather or season. Nuclear baseload is not needed.

“The widely distributed renewables ‘back-up’ would also greatly improve grid resilience and energy security whereas nuclear stations pose significant risks to national security.”

The campaigners also said that they were calling on the UK Government to impose sanctions on Russian uranium imports to aid the Ukrainians.

“Western democracies are as dependent on Russian-controlled uranium as Europe is on Russian gas,” Neil Crumpton said. “So western sanctions on Russian uranium would help the Ukraine and provide a timely warning about the West’s energy security.”

‘Vital’

Leading a debate at Westminster Hall in January, Virginia Crosbie said that “my nickname is Atomic Kitten,” and said that the small nuclear reactors were crucial to solving the UK’s “ongoing energy security and our ambitious goal to achieve net zero”.

“In the ’50s and ’60s we led the way with nuclear and nuclear export,” she said. “This is an opportunity for us to get back to where we were, leading in a sector that is so vital for our energy security. That is very important for jobs, and it will create skilled jobs in my constituency and across Wales and the UK.”

She argued that there was an opportunity to site other clean energy projects alongside the small nuclear reactors.

“Such co-location is not new; the original Wylfa power station was established to provide power to Anglesey Aluminium,” she said.

Under their new energy strategy published today a new body, Great British Nuclear, will be launched to bolster the UK’s nuclear capacity with the hope of up to 24 gigawatts (GW) of electricity by 2050 coming from the source of power, 25% of the projected electricity demand.

They hoped the focus on nuclear will deliver up to eight reactors, equivalent to one reactor a year instead of one a decade.

The UK government says it will “immediately begin work to secure access to the sites,” and also names Sizewell in Suffolk and Oldbury in South Gloucestershire alongside Wylfa.


Support our Nation today

For the price of a cup of coffee a month you can help us create an independent, not-for-profit, national news service for the people of Wales, by the people of Wales.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest
12 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
The Original Mark
The Original Mark
1 year ago

How sad that we are governed by people who have no real concern about the future, people that wouldn’t know the truth if it jumped up and slapped them in the face. The only thing these people think about are themselves and how to maximize their wealth in the shortest time.

Grayham Jones
1 year ago

It’s time for a new wales 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 we in wales must run wales not outsiders vote Plaid Cymru 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

Leigh Richards
Leigh Richards
1 year ago

Good for PAWB! 👏 If the self styled ‘atomic kitten’ is so keen on nuclear power let her volunteer to have the deadly poisonous waste it will produce buried in her garden.

Y Cymro
Y Cymro
1 year ago

Anyone who treats their constituents with such contempt like Virginia Crosbie has by nonchalantly referring to herself as “Atomic Kitten” should never be given responsibility over one life let alone many. Period! And until the war in Ukraine changed Boris Johnson’s attitude towards investment in Mam Cymru, the people of Ynys Mon were effectively put on the employment & investment scrapheap by Whitehall. The only large Tory infrastructure build on the agenda was their Brexit border post hut akin to a garden shed. One moment you are not worth it. The next. You are vitally important to us i.e England.… Read more »

Last edited 1 year ago by Y Cymro
Geraint
Geraint
1 year ago

Energy security is important. Much of the mess we are in now can be traced back to Thatcher’s determination to privatise the energy sector and move away from our successful policy of having a mix of fuels run by the CEGB. But the Iron Lady was determined to leave it to the markets. Ironically most of those providers are now foreign owned and are driven by shareholder profit rather than secure energy production. Thankfully the renewable revolution has significantly changed things, but don’t forget Thatcher was going to build one new nuclear station every year for ten years. What was… Read more »

Freya
Freya
1 year ago

It’s about time someone did the maths on actual co2 emissions in Wales since 2007. I see nuclear switched off (which produced zero co2) and biomass (burning things) being laughingly called green along with pumping water all night with gas powered stations and releasing during the day to trade on the higher price difference being called green! It’s a bit like the speed limits on the m4, where cars produce less emissions because they run more efficient at lower speed but in reality they are there longer and in the case of the m4 crawl along at 20mph churning out… Read more »

Leigh Richardss
Leigh Richardss
1 year ago
Reply to  Freya

You left out the bit about the poisonous waste nuclear produces and which has got to be stored underground for thousands of years – nothing very ‘green’ about that. There’s also nothing ‘variable’ about the tides! While the growing number of countries in the world now generating electricity from renewable sources arent sat around with candles 😉 https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/11-countries-leading-the-charge-on-renewable-energy/

Freya
Freya
1 year ago

Leigh, I just read the article and despite being 3 years old it had some promise but you need to apply this logic. If Nicaragua is 100% green using wind and solar, what happens at night and on non windy days? Do they have some as yet not invented huge battery back up system, power cuts or what? I’m all for green energy but right now we need to use fossil fuel to even out the unreliable issue with relying on the weather for energy. I also massively disagree with slanted view that GERMANY are in any way to be… Read more »

Rhosddu
Rhosddu
1 year ago

Johnson’s nuclear propsals are an exemplar of his British mindset. England has an energy-supply problem that he interprets as a British problem. It does not matter to him that he creates a public safety problem for Wales by wanting to use Wales as part of the solution, irrespective of the wishes of the people of Ynys Mon. He sees it as one area of Britain carrying a burden for the benefit of another. His locally-based apologist and propagandist, Virginia Crosbie, shares the same mindset. The nuclear power proposals are an exemplar of the ‘Welsh vs. British’ constitutional war that will… Read more »

Klaus Roobeth
Klaus Roobeth
1 year ago
Reply to  Rhosddu

You’re not correct there. This power station would be for Welsh electricity that would replace the gas procured by the UK that is currently burned in Welsh homes and electricity generation. This is principal tenet of reducing climate change. Many sites in England have and are proposed to have nuclear power stations. Building them in Wales to power London doesn’t make sense in terms of physics, engineering or economics. Cost effective renewable energy from Norway would fulfill that. This is the whole point. Disliking the English, interspersing one’s general conversation with Welsh words and liking pictures of Welsh cakes on… Read more »

Rhosddu
Rhosddu
1 year ago
Reply to  Klaus Roobeth

Welsh Government policy is to promote green energy for Ynys Mon, not nuclear. It looks like the island will be saddled with this costly enterprise, nevertheless.
Sorry if the Welsh language offends you.
You’re right that a weakness for Welsh cakes is no guarantee of competence to make a judgment on Johnson’s energy policy. The Welsh cake question divides opinion more than people realise. Jam lor no jam? Hot or cold? Bakes tone or popty? etc.

David Smith
David Smith
1 year ago

This woman has the most insincere smile I’ve ever seen. She looks as though she’s undertaking a Herculean effort in forcing it out against every fibre of her being.

Our Supporters

All information provided to Nation.Cymru will be handled sensitively and within the boundaries of the Data Protection Act 2018.