Public consultation on the request for consent to decommission Wylfa nuclear power station

Background

Since the Nuclear Reactors (Environmental Impact Assessment for Decommissioning) Regulations (EIADR) entered into force in 1999 the decommissioning of nuclear power stations and other nuclear reactors within the scope of EIADR may only proceed with consent from the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR). To obtain consent a nuclear power station must submit to ONR an Environmental Statement (ES), which presents a detailed environmental impact assessment for the proposed decommissioning project and the mitigation measures to be used to avoid or minimise any significant adverse impacts on the environment, together with a non-technical summary of this information.  This is considered by ONR during an extensive public consultation. If the project is considered acceptable ONR grants consent for the decommissioning project. Further information and guidance on EIADR is available.

Application for consent to decommission Wylfa nuclear power station

Wylfa obtained a consent to decommission in March 2009 on the expectation of ceasing operation within 5 years of that time. However, due to extended electricity generation Wylfa is not expected to shut-down completely and begin decommissioning until around the end of 2014 or possibly later depending on their operational plans. By this time the current consent will have expired and so Wylfa is seeking a new consent. 

For the application for consent Wylfa have submitted the following documents:

• an environmental statement , which presents a comprehensive environmental impact assessment for the decommissioning project;
• a non-technical summary of the environmental statement;
• the documents submitted previously to obtain the current consent;

all of which are available on the documentation page. You can also request these documents in writing from:
Document Centre
Wylfa Power Station
Cemaes Bay
Isle of Anglesey
LL67 0DH
www.magnoxsites.co.uk

Public consultation

ONR is holding a formal 3-month consultation period in order to provide the opportunity for interested parties to comment upon Wylfa’s application and decommissioning project. Consultees are invited to comment upon any aspect of the decommissiong project, particularly the environmental statement that contains the environmental impact assessment for the proposed decommissioning project and the mitigation measures to be used to avoid or minimise any significant adverse impacts on the environment.

At the end of the consultation the comments received are collated and made publically available, although any comments submitted can be treated anonymously on request. Alternatively, you may provide comments in person at HSE’s Knowledge Centre, HSE Wrexham Branch and public libraries local to Wylfa.

If required, you may ask ONR any questions of clarification before responding formally to the consultation.

Next steps

After careful consideration of the comments received, ONR will publish its decision on issuing consent in the form of a Decision Report, which will be circulated to consultees and published.  

This consultation rann for a 3-month period from 7 May and ended on 9 August 2013. Comments were submitted during this period; late comments were unlikely to be considered.