A group campaigning against the expansion of Hinkley Point power station says this week’s explosion at a French nuclear plant in which one person was killed and four others were injured is a ‘sobering reminder of how things can go wrong.’
Stop Hinkley gave its reaction to the explosion at the Marcoule nuclear plant, pictured, which is part operated by a subsidiary of EDF, on Monday (September 12th).
Crispin Aubrey, spokesman for the Stop Hinkley campaign, said: “The accident in France is a sobering reminder of what can go wrong when a country commits itself so heavily to nuclear power, including all the problems associated with handling radioactive waste. Yet we are now proposing to import French technology to Hinkley Point and store waste there for 100 years or more.”
“After Fukushima in Japan this accident serves as yet another tragic reminder of the dangers of nuclear power and the urgent need for the UK government to follow the lead taken by Germany in phasing it out.”
Officials at the plant said there was no risk of a radioactive leak after the blast, which had been caused by a fire near a furnace in the radioactive waste storage site. EDF added that it had been “an industrial accident, not a nuclear accident” but it said the cause of the blast was not yet known.
