Site for new nuclear power plant in west Cumbria confirmed

The site in west Cumbria where Europe's biggest new nuclear power station is set to be built has been confirmed.

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Anti-nuclear groups respond to new power plant plan

The Moorside site next to Sellafield Credit: ITV Border

Anti-nuclear groups have slammed NuGen's announcement confirming Moorside as the site where the company intends to build Europe's biggest new nuclear power plant.

Radiation Free Lakeland's Marianne Birkby says the land next to Sellafield was originally designated as a 'buffer zone' to prevent further development and that the new development will 'double the terrorist target of Sellafield'.

"The land acquired by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority was bought out of the public purse as a buffer zone around Sellafield to ensure that there would be no new hazardous development or population increase near Sellafield.

"Protections have been ditched to accommodate the nuclear industry and our nuclear-obsessed government who plan to double the terrorist target of Sellafield with nuclear sprawl on green fields adjacent to the flood plain of the river Ehen. The only protections now are for the nuclear industry at the expense of Cumbria and the wider environment. What other industry would be allowed to operate with nominal public liability in the event of contamination accident?"

– Marianne Birkby, Radiation Free Lakeland

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