 THE safety inspection needed to judge whether the life of a North Wales nuclear power station could be extended would cost up to £100m, it was revealed yesterday. Welsh secretary Peter Hain told a group of anti-nuclear MPs simply assessing whether Wylfa would be able to continue generating power beyond its due closure date of 2010 involved huge costs. He told the cross party group an inspection of the plant alone would cost a staggering £70m to £100m. His comments are a huge blow to campaigners who are urging the Department of Trade and Industry to extend Wylfa's life by two years to safeguard 1,600 jobs. There are fears the plants' decommissioning will result in the closure of neighbouring Anglesey Aluminium and an average fall in wages on the island of £1,000 a year. Mr Hain made his comments to Welsh Lib-Dem MPs Mark Williams, Lembit Opik and Jenny Willott and Labour MP Nia Griffith during a private meeting. Mr Hain issued a statement after the meeting claiming he had issued a "tough warning" to anti-nuclear MPs that they must lead the way in promoting other renewable energy sources. He said it was vital to overcome opposition to offshore wind farms and in particular the Gwynt-y-Môr windfarm off the Clwyd West coast. "It's not good enough just to oppose nuclear - we need strong leadership on renewables too." | 
