Britain's nuclear plants are not at risk of the kind of natural disaster that caused Japan's nuclear crisis in March and they can continue to operate as normal, the chief inspector said Wednesday. An enquiry was launched into the British nuclear industry after the earthquake and tsunami in Japan that caused severe damage to the Fukushima nuclear plant.
Mike Weightman, executive head of the Office for Nuclear Regulation, said: "The extreme natural events that preceded the accident at Fukushima - the magnitude 9 earthquake and subsequent huge tsunami - are not credible in the UK. "We are 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometres) from the nearest fault line and we have safeguards in place that protect against even very remote hazards. "Our operating and proposed future reactor designs and technology are different to the type at the Fukushima plant."
The inspector also said the risk of flooding was unlikely to prevent construction of new nuclear power stations at potential development sites in Britain, all of which are on the coast. The British government is planning a new series of nuclear reactors on existing sites to maintain electricity supplies and cut greenhouse gas emissions as an old generation of power stations are phased out.