More than 30 anti-nuclear campaigners representing the major Welsh campaign groups met in Caernarfon on Saturday to discuss their strategy to withstand plans from the Welsh and UK governments to develop new nuclear power stations at Wylfa and Trawsfynydd.

The UK government confirmed in April this year that re-opening Wylfa nuclear power station was part of its energy strategy, with the idea to move ahead with the project "as soon as possible this decade".

Scotland, meanwhile, will not see any new nuclear reactors as part of the UK government's energy strategy.

After closing in 2015, Wylfa's owners Hitachi had hoped to re-open the power station by the middle of the 2020s. Despite this, the project has been delayed due to an ongoing dispute with the UK government, with work finally being suspended in 2019.

American companies Westinghouse and Bechtel are currently in discussions with the UK government to develop the site.

North Wales Chronicle: Anti-nuclear campaigners in Caernarfon with the signed strategy document that was agreed upon.Anti-nuclear campaigners in Caernarfon with the signed strategy document that was agreed upon.

Caernarfon's anti-nuclear conference was chaired by Robat Idris from People Against Wylfa-B (PAWB). A spokesman for the group said of Westminster's plans to develop nuclear in order to reduce dependence on Russian gas and energy that "Western democracies are as dependent on Russian-controlled uranium as Europe is on Russian gas.

“The UK should be showing the world how wind and solar energy, when backed-up by hydrogen-fired power stations, would provide reliable electricity to consumers no matter what the weather or season.”

The subject of nuclear energy in Wales splits opinion, with some arguing that the benefits of the skilled jobs that nuclear energy brings outweigh the environmental concerns.

In the conference Mabon ap Gwynfor, Plaid Cymru's AS for Dwyfor Meirionnydd said that renewable energy technology is much cheaper than the capital spending needed for nuclear energy infrastructure.

CND Wales announced that there were plans for campaigners to march from Trawsfynydd on September 4 and arriving at Wylfa on the 10th, with rallies at either end of the protest.

 

North Wales Chronicle: The late Dr Carl Clowes speaking at an anti-nuclear rally in Llangefni.The late Dr Carl Clowes speaking at an anti-nuclear rally in Llangefni.

This was the first conference of Welsh anti-nuclear campaigners since similar conferences were held in Aberystwyth in 2017 and Machynlleth in 2018, and the first since one of the movement's leaders in Wales, Dr Carl Clowes, died in December last year.

Dr Clowes campaigned for decades to de-nuclearise Wales, and tribute was paid to his work in a strategy document that was signed the groups present at the conference in Caernarfon.