Ash-threatened lake ‘safe for now’

1:59pm Monday 18th February 2008

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Energy giant RWE npower is putting on hold a plan to dump waste in a Radley Lake.

The firm announced today that it will defer its plan to fill Thrupp Lake with coal ash from Didcot Power Station.

The company said the success of its ash recycling programme has meant the Thrupp Lake scheme is not needed in the short term.

However, it will not say whether Thrupp Lake will be used in the future, before the station closes in 2015.

Recently, npower has secured new contracts to recycle the Didcot ash for use in industry, including road-building projects.

Milder winters over the past two years have resulted in less power being generated at Didcot, which has reduced the amount of ash produced on site.

John Rainford, manager of Didcot Power Station, said: "This is good news. We have always worked very hard to find the best ash solutions and we'll continue to do so.

"As a result of our efforts we've managed to take advantage of a stronger market for ash re-use. This means we are now able to put the use of Thrupp Lake on hold for the time being."