By Alan Irving

Last updated at 12:14, Thursday, 12 April 2012

ENERGY secretary Ed Davey made his first fact-finding visit to Sellafield on Tuesday.

fact-finding: Energy secretary Ed Davey with union and council leaders on his fact finding visit to Sellafield this week. From left, Peter Clements (Prospect union); Eddie Martin (Cumbria County Council leader); Joe Murdoch (GMB); Mr Davey; Elaine Woodburn (Copeland Council leader) and Craig Dobson (UNITE)

Although it was a whistle-stop tour, union and council leaders seized the opportunity to say what they saw as both Sellafield and Copeland’s needs for the future.

The new minister – who replaced Lib Dem colleague Chris Huhne in the role – was given an extensive tour of the site. Mr Davey met Sellafield’s top bosses along with council leaders and representatives from the site’s three main unions.

One of them, Peter Clements (Prospect) told The Whitehaven News: “It was a chance for him to get to know his patch, a whistle-stop tour really but the Secretary of State talked with us for about 15 minutes, he grabbed a sandwich and we had a good crack about the various Sellafield issues.

“Basically we said we wanted to make efficiencies on our site and get best value for taxpayers’ money for what we do, but this was dependent on us getting stable funding year in, year out.”

Copeland Council leader Elaine Woodburn said: “It was good to welcome Ed Davey to Copeland so soon after his appointment. It demonstrates how important Sellafield is within the department he now leads.

“I took the opportunity to emphasise what we can do as a community that helps Copeland and what support we need from government to help us diversify so that in 15-20 years we are not as reliant on nuclear as we are now.”

For the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, stakeholder relations manager Brian Hough said: “Along with our colleagues at Sellafield we were extremely pleased to have an early opportunity to explain to the Secretary of State the important role West Cumbria and Sellafield plays in the current UK nuclear decommissioning industry. In addition to meeting local stakeholders and trades union officials we were able to take the Secretary of State on the site so he could see first hand the important work being delivered at Sellafield.”

First published at 12:00, Thursday, 12 April 2012
Published by http://www.whitehavennews.co.uk