A danger zone around an Anglesey nuclear plant has been expanded.
After more than 40 years the Magnox plant at Wylfa stopped producing electricity last December.
The regulators, the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR), have now decided to increase the size of the zone under new guidelines.
Such areas around nuclear plants are required by law to protect the public from emergencies including radiation leaks.
Local councils are also required to draw up an emergency plan ready to activate if anything goes wrong.
The ONR regularly assesses the robustness of these arrangements by holding emergency exercises.
ONR chiefs have contacted Anglesey council and site owners Magnox over the new zone.
The new 'safety zone' covers a 2.5km radius from the site, larger than the previous 1.6km which now also fully incorporates the nearby villages of Cemaes and Tregele.
Donald Urquhart, the ONR’s programme director, who insisted the risk of an emergency is low, said: “Our recent assessment of the radiation risks and hazards from the Wylfa site confirm that, as expected, the overall radiation risks to the public have decreased since the reactor ceased operating in December 2015.
“However, this assessment confirms that a radiation emergency is still possible during the defueling phase of its life cycle and the statutory requirements for an off-site emergency planning area will therefore remain in place.
“ONR inspectors have assessed Magnox Ltd’s detailed evaluation of the current radiation hazards at the site and worked with the Isle of Anglesey County Council emergency planners to ensure that existing good practice and practical considerations relevant to the extent of the area have been taken into account.
“Since the reactor is no longer operating, potassium iodate tablets are no longer a necessary countermeasure in the vicinity of the site. Magnox Ltd., on behalf of the council, will be writing to residents to whom the tablets were previously issued in order to facilitate their withdrawal and explain this change.”
Last year, the ONR lifted a near one-mile emergency zone around the former Trawsfynydd nuclear plant in Gwynedd after concluding that a radiation emergency was “no longer reasonably foreseeable” in the event of an incident.
Decommissioning at Traws began in 1995, two years after the Magnox plant ceased operating.
see-http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/danger-zone-around-former-anglesey-11543078
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