Plaid Cymru opposition to Horizon’s Wylfa Newydd nuclear plant is stiffening as the Welsh nationalists’ leader has pledged to carry out a review of her party’s energy policy.
Leanne Wood, who is facing a challenge to the leadership of the party, told a meeting last week that alongside a “full review” of Plaid’s energy policies, she will commission a study into the possible negative effects that construction of the 2.7GW power station could have on housing, the local economy and the Welsh language in Ynys Môn and neighbouring Gwynedd.
The Welsh nationalist party’s policy of opposition to nuclear power does not cover the replacement of existing plants due to concerns about possible job losses in the rural areas, such as Ynys Môn where Hitachi-backed Horizon is planning to build Wylfa B near the site of the island’s former Magnox plant.
However Wood expressed concern about the scale of Wylfa, which she said will require an extra 3,000 homes to accommodate its workforce.
She said: “There is growing concern from Ynys Môn residents that the construction phase will require an influx of workers from outside. Intolerable strain will be put on local infrastructure, housing and services. It is impossible to see how the ‘jobs for local people’ argument is still valid in 2018.
“I want to make the most of our engineering talents and university research facilities to allow these innovative schemes to blossom and create sustainable, long-term work for our communities.
“The canning of the (Swansea) Tidal Lagoon by Westminster, whilst they push on with Wylfa at seemingly any cost epitomises Wales’ problem.
“A free Wales’ future is not based on nuclear. We must have control over our own natural resources so that we can have a green future, instead of being entangled in Westminster’s white elephants.”
The Wylfa project has also been branded an “enormous burden” by Wood’s leadership contender Adam Price.
In his leadership manifesto, entitled “Seven Steps to Welsh Independence”, the Welsh Assembly member for Carmarthen has said that the plant would be “difficult for an independent Wales to sustain” because it would generate more electricity than the principality can consume.
“If it could not secure adequate purchases from English customers at what is likely to be a much higher than market price, then the burden of paying for the electricity would fall on either Welsh taxpayers or Welsh energy consumers.
“It is possible to support Wylfa B or Welsh independence: it’s difficult to see how it is possible to support both,” he said, adding that an independent Welsh government faced the risk of being saddled with the hefty costs of decommissioning the plant.
The third candidate in the Plaid leadership race is Welsh Assembly member for Ynys Môn, Rhun ap Iorwerth, who supports Wylfa.
The Westminster government has responsibility for energy policy in devolved parts of the UK, like Wales.
However, a change of stance on nuclear power by Plaid could be pivotal if a future Labour government, which faces its own internal divisions on nuclear power, were forced to rely on Welsh nationalist support to form a government in the event of a hung parliament.
Business secretary Greg Clark announced in June that the government has agreed to open negotiations with Horizon on the project. Last week Horizon appointed Bechtel to project manage the scheme.