News
Tuesday 9 June 2009Wylfa meets its first goal in achieving continued generation
The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) today announced that Wylfa Power Station, on Anglesey, North Wales, has been granted approval to continue generating electricity for at least another nine months past its planned closure date of March 2010 – until at least December 2010.
The Government’s Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) gave its approval earlier this month following work by the site contractor Magnox North to build a business case which supports maximising Wylfa’s generating life, while maintaining safety and operational performance.
The NDA-owned site has safely generated electricity since 1971 and currently meets more than 40% of Wales’ electricity needs. The initial extension period provides the potential for additional 3twh of electricity worth about £100 million in the current market.
NDA Acting Chief Executive Richard Waite said: “Wylfa’s continued generation is good news as it ensures further benefit from one of the NDA’s valuable assets. The income generated over the extension period will be utilised to support our clean-up mission and Wylfa will continue to contribute to the UK’s electricity supply as it has done for the last 38 years. I would like to thank Magnox North for all the work they have done to help make this happen.”
The additional income generated during the extension will be used in support of the civil nuclear clean-up and decommissioning programme at the same time as making a major contribution to the UK’s electricity supply.
The decision has been welcomed locally, where more than 650 people are employed by Magnox North while up to 500 contractors and members of the supply chain provide support to the site.
Wylfa’s Site Director, Greg Evans, said: “The decision to extend generation is great news for Wylfa and the local community. Every single person at the site is absolutely focussed on continuing generation at Wylfa.”
As well as paying tribute to the workforce, Greg added: “Working in partnership with our customer, the NDA, we have been able to invest in the plant to ensure that it is in good condition. As fuel supply is not a problem, there is an excellent prospect that we could continue safely generating electricity at Wylfa beyond 2010, and we will be actively exploring this possibility on behalf of the NDA.”
