Last updated 11:48, Tuesday, 18 November 2008

ONE of the government advisers on the selection of sites for new nuclear reactors has branded Sellafield as “a poor location for a modern nuclear power station”.

In an extract from his book Nukenomics: The commercialisation of Britain’s nuclear industry, Ian Jackson, writes: “For example, despite its substantial nuclear workforce, the remote Sellafield complex in North West England is a poor location for a modern nuclear power station because its electricity transmission infrastructure cannot carry the energy output of a large nuclear station. Securing planning permissions from Cumbria County Council and capital investment from the National Grid for major transmission upgrade stretching across the Lake District are key logistical and economic barriers at Sellafield.”

But Mr Jackson says a possible plan for an undersea electricity interconnector could improve Sellafield’s current position of eighth in potential new reactor sites.

He was also asked about speculation by an unnamed county councillor that layers of historic plutonium in the sea off Sellafield would be churned up by any construction of cooling intakes for any new power station. Mr Jackson, who added he was a proponent of nuclear power, said: “I was aware of the potential issue of the plutonium in the Irish Sea silts, but I think it would be manageable.”

Mr Jackson’s report was confidential until disclosure was forced by a Freedom of Information request from Greenpeace.

Rosie Mathisen, Cumbria’s nuclear opportunities manager, said: “Sellafield still has site potential as the need is seen as for 30-35 gigwatts.”