EDF has already spent £700 million protecting fish at Hinkley Point C, including a £50 million “fish disco” – but campaigners warn Britain’s biggest new power station could still face fresh delays because of environmental objections.
A new video from Britain Remade claims Natural England is pushing for additional measures that could threaten the long-delayed project’s planned 2030 start date.
Filmed at Hinkley Point C and Dowlais Farm campsite in Clevedon, the video argues that arms-length bodies have acquired too much power over nationally significant infrastructure projects, effectively giving them a veto over developments ministers say are essential for Britain’s energy future.
When completed, Hinkley Point C is expected to generate around 10% of the UK’s electricity, providing always-on low-carbon power and helping reduce reliance on imported fossil fuels.
But despite construction already running around five years late and costs continuing to rise, Britain Remade says the project remains vulnerable to further regulatory challenges.
Like the two previous nuclear power stations built at Hinkley, the new plant will use seawater from the Bristol Channel to cool its reactors.
Britain Remade claims Natural England could recommend that the Marine Management Organisation refuses the water discharge licence required for the plant to begin generating electricity.
That would create another hurdle for a project already facing years of delays.
EDF says it has already invested heavily in environmental mitigation measures.
These include £500 million on specially designed intake heads that reduce the number of fish drawn into cooling systems, £150 million on fish recovery and return technology and a further £50 million on an acoustic deterrent system designed to keep fish away from water intakes.
Despite those measures, Britain Remade says proposals to create hundreds of acres of new salt marsh habitat along the Bristol Channel have resurfaced. The plans could involve compulsory purchase of privately owned land and the deliberate flooding of sites whose owners do not wish to sell.
The campaign group argues the dispute highlights wider problems facing Britain’s nuclear programme.
It says developers are routinely required to undertake years of additional surveys, mitigation measures and regulatory processes that increase costs and delay projects without sufficient consideration of energy security or the wider public interest.
Britain Remade is urging ministers to use the forthcoming Nuclear Regulation Bill to reform the system.
The group wants nuclear developers to be allowed to pay into a national nature restoration fund instead of having to negotiate individual environmental mitigation packages for every project.
The proposal was recommended by the Nuclear Regulatory Taskforce led by John Fingleton.
Sam Richards, CEO of Britain Remade, said: “Britain desperately needs more clean, reliable power, but the system we have built is making it harder and more expensive to get it.
“Hinkley Point C should be a national priority. EDF has already spent £700 million on fish protection. The Government’s Nuclear Regulation Bill must have real teeth, allowing developers to pay into a national nature fund instead of forcing every project through years of bespoke surveys and legal wrangling.”
The video also features local landowner Kathrin from Dowlais Farm campsite, who says plans to flood land for salt marsh creation could have a devastating impact on her business.
For Britain Remade, the row is about far more than fish. It says the outcome could determine whether Britain can build major infrastructure projects quickly enough to meet its energy ambitions.
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