Clemitis vitalba

Old Mans Beard growing in the old walled garden at Wylfa.

Meetings about Nuclear Waste

Just seen on BBC web site that there are meeting today and tomorrow for people to discuss nuclear waste. Committee on Nuclar Waste Management.
Not seen another announcement, so can't go.
Wonder how many people are happy for the new power station, but don't want nuclear waste storage on the island?
I'm not in favour of either....

Skerries Tidal Array Suspended

Siemens announced today that they were suspending the proposal for a tidal generation array off the Skerries.
So much for 'Energy Island'.
Perhaps it will help get Anglesey back to setting tourism as a major part of its economic planning.

Move to Step 3 for Assesment of Proposed Reactor

Office for Nuclear Development update – Generic Design Assessment (GDA) of Hitachi-GE’s UK ABWR

 For information, the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) and the Environment Agency (EA) working with Natural Resources Wales (NRW) have completed an initial high level assessment of Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy’s UK-Advanced Boiling Water Reactor (UK ABWR) design and have moved to Step 3 of the assessment process.

Full details on the GDA of new reactors is available on the joint regulators website.

 You can also make a comment about the UK ABWR design via Hitachi-GE’s website. Hitachi-GE will respond to the comments and issues raised.

Extension Request for Generation at Wylfa to Continue into 2015

BBC reports that Wyfa power station is seeking to extend generation into 2015.

Rhiannon wind farm off Anglesey scrapped

Celtic Array Rhiannon wind farm off Anglesey scrapped

The massive wind farm planned for the Irish Sea has been scrapped.

Report on BBC news
Later report on BBC Wales

The Rhiannon wind farm, 12 miles (19km) north east of Anglesey, would have covered an area the size of the island.

Celtic Array, a partnership of Centrica and Danish firm Dong Energy, said the Irish Sea was "economically unviable" with current technology due to "challenging ground conditions".

Up to 440 turbines would have produced enough power to meet the needs of around 1.7m homes.

"We're disappointed not to be progressing with our work to develop wind farms in the Irish Sea Zone," said a spokesperson for the project.

"However our assessments have shown that ground conditions are such that it's not viable for us to proceed with the technology that's available at this stage."

Jobs hope

First announced in 2010, the project had been submitted to the UK government in 2012, followed by a series of public meetings in north Wales and on the Isle of Man.

Anglesey council leader Ieuan Williams said the announcement was "hugely disappointing".

"We'd hoped that the Rhiannon Wind Farm operational base could have been located in the port of Holyhead, given its potential for assembly, operations and maintenance of offshore wind farms," he said.

"This could have brought jobs and economic benefits to the island."

Nick Medic, spokesman on offshore developments for the industry body RenewableUK, said while the announcement was disappointing, the reasons behind it were "understandable".

Earlier in July, National Grid confirmed that the timetable had slipped for its plans to connect the Rhiannon wind farm to the electricity network with a 1km overhead line near Rhosgoch on the island.

Approval of Reactor for Wylfa Newydd

Announcement of the provisional approval of the new reactor type for Wylfa Newydd.
Public consultation is still open until October, 2014.