HINKLEY Point should NOT be considered as a location for a new nuclear power station because the area is vulnerable to rising sea levels from global warming, environment experts warned this week.

The West Somerset area has been identified by British Energy as a potential site for a third power station, after the Government indicated its desire for a new generation of nuclear.

But experts from the UK's Flood Hazard Research Centre, based at Middlesex University, have voiced fears at the inclusion of Hinkley among a list of preferred sites.

Power stations are usually located on the coast because of the need for both an isolated position and a plentiful supply of cooling water, but according to the flood experts, this also presents a very real danger.

That is because rising sea levels are rising as a result of global warming - and sites which would once have been suitable could, in future, find themselves at risk of flooding.

Flood expert Dr Loraine McFadden said: "Having undertaken this review of existing data, it is hard to escape the conclusion that the most sensible approach would be to reject all nuclear new-build within the dynamic coastal environment."

She went on to outline how rising sea levels could threaten the sea wall at Hinkley, and "add significant stress to the power station's defence structures".

Her report's findings also concluded that a new power station to the east of the present location "would not be advisable or indeed feasible under current conditions, let alone with the predicted impacts of climate change".

This suggestion has been welcomed by environmental campaigners Greenpeace, and the organisation's nuclear spokesman Nathan Argent claimed it should ensure no extra power station is built at Hinkley.

He said: "This report is yet another nail in the coffin for Blair's deluded nuclear policy. With the catastrophic effect that sea level rise will wreak upon nuclear sites - not least economically - it now looks more likely that the industry faces a burial at sea.

"There's a real risk that any financial investment in new nuclear plants will sink without trace.

"Nuclear power is completely unnecessary and is a dangerous distraction from implementing real solutions to climate change.

"There are much safer, more reliable and significantly cheaper approaches, such as increased energy efficiency, renewable power technologies and the decentralising of our electricity and energy systems."