Could the Koreans save Anglesey’s nuclear power project?

The funny thing about nuclear power stations is that few places actively want one, but almost anywhere that’s lost one is desperate to bring it back.

When I visited the island of Anglesey, or Ynys Môn, last year I was struck by how much people wanted a new nuclear power station to replace the recently decommissioned Wylfa.

In its heyday, Wylfa power station not only produced almost half of Wales’s electricity, it also provided dirt-cheap reliable power to the nearby Anglesey Aluminium smelting plant. Both meant decent paying skilled jobs for locals. Both have since shut down.

A boom in tourism to the island has helped stem the loss of jobs, but it’s come at a cost. Young people who would have once worked at Wylfa or Anglesey Aluminium are now forced to leave the island – unable to afford housing on hospitality wages as second home buyers move in.

There was a plan to replace Wylfa with a new nuclear power station, Wylfa Horizon, built by Hitachi, but it collapsed when the Japanese conglomerate pulled out.