“What will happen to our local economy when Hunterston goes?” asks the Conservative candidate for the forthcoming Scottish Election, Jamie Greene, as he visited Hunterston Nuclear power station in West Kilbride, North Ayrshire.
He met with the Station Director, Colin Weir, to discuss wide range of issues concerning local jobs, safety and the state of the nuclear industry in Scotland.
During a frank discussion on the current Scottish government’s attitude to nuclear energy the local Tory candidate was also told about the history of the power station, its importance to the local economy and how it deals with the many vocal opponents and proponents of nuclear energy in this part of of the world.
Mr Greene was given a tour of the main control areas of the plant including the viewing bridge of the main reactors, generators, the control room and a visual walk through of the core process, cooling components and peripheral areas of the plant. He also partook in a meeting with the station director which gave him the opportunity to question Mr Weir on the future of the Scottish nuclear industry, what will happen over the forthcoming years as the plant decommissions and to seek assurances over the safety protocols and processes in place at the plant.
Speaking after the meeting, Jamie Greene said “I was impressed at the multiple layers of safety which are quite obviously at the heart of everything they do at Hunterston. Whilst output targets have to met, it seemed very apparent that the safety of not just the onsite employers and contractors is paramount, but the country wide contingency plans and safety measures in place are second to none.”
He continued “I went to Hunterston admittedly a tad nervous at being so close to such a mammoth energy making set-up, but was quickly put at ease. Not only does Hunterston employ close to 800 people full time plus numerous other contract jobs, it is clearly a huge part of the economy in North Ayrshire and so important to the energy sector in Scotland. Put simply, its closure will have a profound effect on the local area. It is deeply disappointing that the SNP government in Holyrood chooses to place its non-nuclear ideology before jobs. They ultimately have made it unattractive for large scale investment in the nuclear sector in Scotland.”
“With gaining planning permission on new power station sites proving to be difficult and no serious investment in the nuclear sector, it is no wonder that large multi-billion pound investment projects are heading to England and other European countries. I challenge our local MP and MSP to tell families across North Ayrshire how it will replace those highly skilled jobs and avoid the huge hole in the local economy that Hunterston’s closure will eventually create.”