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64
Battersea Power Station
In my Annual Report for 1960 I mentioned that representations had
been made by the City Council, the London County Council and the
Battersea, Chelsea and Kensington Borough Councils to the Minister of
Power regarding the failure of the Central Electricity Generating Board
to ensure strict compliance with the conditions which had been
imposed by the Minister upon the operation of the Battersea Power
Station, requiring the washing of the chimney gases emitted from the
station. In his reply, the Minister suggested that it would be helpful
if representatives of the City Council and of the other Councils concerned
could see the power station in operation. It was also stated that the
Generating Board had given an assurance that it would in future plan
the periodic overhauls in such a way that the output of the station would
be limited to the capacity of the remaining gas washing plants. The
Board pointed out, however, that if the gas washing plant were to break
down at a time of high demand on the grid system, or if there were an
emergency which would jeopardise the grid or local supplies if generation
were curtailed, it might be necessary temporarily to operate the station
without using the gas washing plant.
Accordingly, the visit to the station took place on 12th July, 1961,
when representatives of the Councils concerned were conducted over
the station, the operations being explained in detail, and a number of
questions, of which prior notice had been given, were answered comprehensively
and willingly. An assurance was given by the Station
Superintendent that every facility would be given to the Council's Officers
to inspect from time to time the operational records, including notes
about gas washing, on the understanding that the information thus
obtained would not be released for general publication; a similar undertaking
was given with regard to information obtained from the City
Council's recording apparatus, which might be disclosed to the Station
Superintendent.
Arrangements have been made for the two sets of records to be
compared regularly but it is clear that ample time must elapse before
any definite conclusions can be drawn about the sources of pollution of
the atmosphere.