Power station ash stays put

Jan 19 2008 by Peter Collins, South Wales Echo

THOUSANDS of tonnes of ash will have to stay at Aberthaw Power Station – despite councillors giving the go-ahead for its removal.

The Vale of Glamorgan’s planning committee gave permission for ash to be taken to the nearby cement works.

But the same committee put off a decision on facilities to clean up the ash before it can be moved, meaning it will have to stay put for the meantime.

Plans to increase the height of the ash mound were rejected by the Vale council and an alternative plan to dump the ash in the nearby quarry will take at least a year to complete.

The latest idea was to transport 750 tonnes of ash a week by road from the power station to the cement works. An application to do so was approved by Vale of Glamorgan councillors, despite opposition by Barry and Vale Friends of the Earth.

However, a decision on a plan to “stack and scrubber” where ammonia would be removed from the ash was deferred.

Members of the committee said they wanted more information on how the ammonia is to be disposed of before they grant permission for the scheme.

The company said the scrubbing system would remove 99.6 per cent of the ammonia from the ash and that “no ammonia discharge to the sea would be detectable”.

This failed to satisfy Councillor Tony Williams who told the planning committee: “They have not disclosed the volume of ammonia that with be discharged into the sea. They should tell us that.”

Councillor Mike Harvey added: “If the ammonia is not being disposed of through the stack, and it’s not going into the sea, where is it going? We should know.”

The plan was recommended for approval by planning officers, but a final decision will not be taken until next month.

peter.collins@mediawales.co.uk