The Welsh Nuclear Free Local Authorities Forum hope that the decision made by Great British Nuclear to temporarily postpone plans for new nuclear at Trawsfynydd at this time might become a permanent one.

In March, responding to the UK Government consultation on the siting of new nuclear plants after 2025, the Welsh NFLAs said that the Trawsfynydd site was wholly inappropriate for redevelopment as it lies within the beautiful Eryri National Park. Ministers have previously agreed that any Geological Disposal Facility will not be in the Lake District National Park, and the NFLAs have called for this principal to be applied as a blanket ban on new nuclear plants in National Parks, at World Heritage Sites and in Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Great British Nuclear has just announced that the site ‘may not be able to deploy quite as quickly as some other sites’, with reports that site was too small and lacked sufficient cooling water to support the deployment of so-called Small Modular Reactors for the foreseeable future.

Trawsfynydd had an operating Magnox nuclear reactor on site until 1991. It was unique in being inland and cooled by the water of an artificial lake, but it is also a brutalist eyesore standing out stark and ugly against the idyllic backdrop of mountains and forest. The plant is now being dismantled by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, a British taxpayer funded body responsible for decommissioning redundant nuclear plant and for managing Britain’s radioactive waste inventory.

To the NFLAs, locating a new nuclear power plant in any National Park would be entirely incompatible with the Sandford Principal. From 1971 until 1974, Lord Sandford chaired a committee which examined the future management of National Parks in England and Wales:

‘National Park Authorities can do much to reconcile public enjoyment with the preservation of natural beauty by good planning and management and the main emphasis must continue to be on this approach wherever possible. But even so, there will be situations where the two purposes are irreconcilable… Where this happens, priority must be given to the conservation of natural beauty’.

We want to see the old Trawsfynydd plant decommissioned, and the site cleared and landscaped, as soon as practicable. In our view, any proposed new medical isotope facility would be better located at Bangor University, which has an established academic nuclear faculty and has much better transport links. The activities of the Welsh taxpayer funded Cwmni Egino, which was established to pursue new nuclear at the site, are entirely at variance with the stated ambition of the Welsh Government to source the nation’s domestically consumed electricity from truly ‘green’ sources. The body should be abolished, and its resources used to support the development of Welsh renewable energy projects.

Ends//… For more information please contact the NFLA Secretary Richard Outram by email to richard.outram@manchester.gov.uk

Datganiad Cyfryngau NFLA 08 Mai 2024

NFLAs Cymru yn croesawu cefnu Traws o gynlluniau Niwclear Newydd

Mae Fforwm Awdurdodau Lleol Di-Niwclear Cymru yn gobeithio y gallai’r penderfyniad a wnaed gan Great British Nuclear i ohirio cynlluniau dros dro ar gyfer niwclear newydd yn Nhrawsfynydd ar yr adeg hon ddod yn un parhaol.

Ym mis Mawrth, wrth ymateb i ymgynghoriad Llywodraeth y DU ar leoli gorsafoedd niwclear newydd ar ôl 2025, dywedodd NFLAs Cymru fod safle Trawsfynydd yn gwbl amhriodol i’w ailddatblygu gan ei fod o fewn Parc Cenedlaethol hyfryd Eryri. Mae Gweinidogion wedi cytuno o’r blaen na fydd unrhyw Gyfleuster Gwaredu Daearegol ym Mharc Cenedlaethol Ardal y Llynnoedd, ac mae’r NFLAs wedi galw am gymhwyso’r pennaeth hwn fel gwaharddiad cyffredinol ar orsafoedd niwclear newydd mewn Parciau Cenedlaethol, ar Safleoedd Treftadaeth y Byd ac mewn Ardaloedd o Harddwch Naturiol Eithriadol.

Mae Great British Nuclear newydd gyhoeddi efallai na fydd y safle ‘yn gallu defnyddio mor gyflym â rhai safleoedd eraill’, gydag adroddiadau bod y safle’n rhy fach a heb ddigon o ddŵr oeri i gefnogi’r defnydd o Adweithyddion Modiwlaidd Bach fel y’u gelwir yn y dyfodol rhagweladwy.

Roedd gan Trawsfynydd adweithydd niwclear gweithredol Magnox ar y safle tan 1991. Roedd yn unigryw o ran bod mewndirol ac oeri gan ddŵr llyn artiffisial, ond mae hefyd yn eyesore brutalist yn sefyll allan yn llwm ac yn hyll yn erbyn cefndir delfrydol mynyddoedd a choedwigoedd. Mae’r orsaf bellach yn cael ei datgymalu gan yr Awdurdod Dadgomisiynu Niwclear, corff a ariennir gan drethdalwyr ym Mhrydain sy’n gyfrifol am ddatgomisiynu gorsaf niwclear segur ac am reoli rhestr gwastraff ymbelydrol Prydain.

I’r NFLAs, byddai lleoli gorsaf bŵer niwclear newydd mewn unrhyw Barc Cenedlaethol yn gwbl anghydnaws â Phennaeth Sandford. Rhwng 1971 a 1974, cadeiriodd yr Arglwydd Sandford bwyllgor a oedd yn archwilio rheolaeth Parciau Cenedlaethol yng Nghymru a Lloegr yn y dyfodol:

‘Gall Awdurdodau Parciau Cenedlaethol wneud llawer i gysoni mwynhad y cyhoedd â gwarchod harddwch naturiol trwy gynllunio a rheoli da a rhaid i’r prif bwyslais barhau i fod ar y dull hwn lle bynnag y bo modd. Ond er hynny, bydd sefyllfaoedd lle mae’r ddau bwrpas yn anghymodlon… Lle mae hyn yn digwydd, rhaid rhoi blaenoriaeth i gadwraeth harddwch naturiol’.

Rydym am weld hen blanhigyn Trawsfynydd yn cael ei ddatgomisiynu, a chlirio a thirlunio’r safle, cyn gynted ag y bo’n ymarferol. Yn ein barn ni, byddai unrhyw gyfleuster isotop meddygol newydd arfaethedig mewn lleoliad gwell ym Mhrifysgol Bangor, sydd â chyfadran niwclear academaidd sefydledig ac sydd â chysylltiadau trafnidiaeth llawer gwell. Mae gweithgareddau’r Cwmni Egino, a ariennir gan drethdalwyr Cymru, a sefydlwyd i fynd ar drywydd niwclear newydd ar y safle, yn gwbl groes i uchelgais datganedig Llywodraeth Cymru i sicrhau holl drydan y wlad sy’n cael ei ddefnyddio’n ddomestig o ffynonellau gwirioneddol ‘wyrdd’. Dylid diddymu’r corff, a defnyddio ei adnoddau i gefnogi datblygiad prosiectau ynni adnewyddadwy Cymru.

Diwedd//… Am fwy o wybodaeth, cysylltwch ag Ysgrifennydd yr NFLA, Richard Outram drwy e-bost at richard.outram@manchester.gov.uk