I WONDER if the postponement/cancellation of the new Hinkley Point nuclear power station to be built by EDF has anything to do with the problems that Chernobyl and the Fukishima plants presented to the world last year.

Chernobyl is a toxic hulk of iron and steel left to rot, enclosed in an iron casing which is slowly breaking down in a forest in the Ukraine. This inadequate containment was presented with a further problem during last year's excessive heat as wild forest fires broke out in an area close to the reactor and it took weeks to get it under control.

Japan's Fukishama plant was overwhelmed by sea was last year. Pools of toxic water around the plant caused by the recent partial melt down of the reactor was spilt into the Pacific Ocean creating further contamination.

At Sellafield we still do not have a solution to the problem of its and other UK nuclear plants' waste.

It seems incredible that any government is even contemplating the building of any more of these toxic monoliths, particularly on such a small island as this.

Mrs F Henderson

Westhoughton