Andy Blowers, chair of BANNG, considers this question in the October 2020 edition of Regional Life magazine. Over recent months the Bradwell B issue has moved so fast it has been difficult to keep up. Having spent twelve years leading BANNG, chasing the shadowy prospect of a new nuclear power station at Bradwell, its sudden, … [Continue Reading]
Suddenly it’s becoming exciting as Bradwell B gets political
Andy Blowers, Chair of BANNG, asks if recent council decisions will prove a decisive turning point in the BANNG column for Regional Life, September 2020 Councils’ initial response Bradwell B has been transformed from being, for most people, a subliminal, vague and distant idea to becoming a palpable, imminent, if still virtual reality. Suddenly the … [Continue Reading]
BANNG column for Regional Life – August 2020
Andy Blowers asks if the hectic activity over the Bradwell nuclear project represents the dénouement or merely another stage in a long journey towards an unpredictable end game. Since the beginning of this year, during the coronavirus emergency, the conflict over a new nuclear power station at Bradwell has come to a head. This is … [Continue Reading]
The coming of Bradwell B. What once seemed incredible is now the ‘new normal’
Andy Blowers, social scientist and Chair of BANNG, considers the social transformation that Bradwell B could bring in the July 2020 column for Regional Life. We live in strange times. Just as the coronavirus began its lethal spread, the plans for a new nuclear power station at Bradwell were launched. For the past four months … [Continue Reading]
Small nuclear reactors – another nuclear fantasy
Peter Banks, BANNG Co-ordinator, concludes that advanced nuclear technologies are no answer for Bradwell in the March 2020 column for Regional Life #23 Published 5th February 2020 – Small Modular Reactors (Part 1)… The nuclear industry has championed a rosy future for their anachronistic technology with the expression “Nuclear Renaissance”. In reality the programme of … [Continue Reading]
Should Bradwell B carry on at a time of Coronavirus?
Andy Blowers questions if doing so is in the public interest in the BANNG column for Regional Life June 2020 (no May edition) Coronavirus provides a shock requiring immediate and profound changes in the way we live. Travel is suspended, gatherings forbidden, the economy paused and society is in lockdown while we stay apart and … [Continue Reading]
Does Coronavirus stop Bradwell B in its tracks?
BANNG column for Regional Life, March, 2020. No sooner had the pre-application public consultation on Bradwell B got under way than it was part-suspended as a result of coronavirus. After a week of visiting places such as Maldon and Bradwell, the Bradwell B (BRB) programme of exhibitions around the Blackwater was halted with ten places … [Continue Reading]
BANNG continues to… keep BANNGing on!
Varrie Blowers looks forward to what 2020 may hold for new nuclear and reviews BANNG’s activities through 2019 column in the February 2020 edition of Regional Life. It may appear that all has been quiet on the eastern front in the recent past but Chinese developer, CGN, seems intent on carrying out its plans to … [Continue Reading]
Get Climate Done…
As we enter a new year, Andy Blowers muses on the massive challenge of climate change that lies ahead, globally and locally, in the column for Regional Life, January 2020. While there is some relief that the General Election is over, it does not feel like ‘glad confident morning again!’ (Robert Browning). On the environment … [Continue Reading]
Climate Change and Bradwell B – time to nip it in the bud?
Andy Blowers ponders a major local environmental issue in the BANNG column for Regional Life, December, 2019 As I write this, and for the first time in my recollection, environmental issues have claimed consistent public and political attention during a General Election campaign. Pretty well everyone now recognises that climate change is the most palpable … [Continue Reading]