UK islanders plead for new nuclear plant

[News Wales, 25 April] The island of Anglesey has sent a delegation to the UK's Department of Trade and Industry to make its case for a new nuclear power station to be built on the island. The delegation, led by the island's member of parliament Albert Owen, included local government leaders and union representatives. "The Isle of Anglesey County Council has already pledged to support any future plans to build a new nuclear power station on the island," said county council leader Gareth Winston Roberts. Anglesey is home to the two-unit Wylfa Magnox nuclear power plant which is scheduled for closure in 2010. The delegation discussed the economic issues faced by the island with Lord Truscott, undersecretary of state for energy. Closure of the power station, with the likely consequential closure of the island's aluminium smelter, would have wide-reaching effects on the island's community, according to an independent socio-economic study published in 2006.