A new consultation will give Burnham-On-Sea residents a chance to have their say about proposed changes to how cooling water is taken from the Severn Estuary by Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant and its impact on fish.
NNB Genco Ltd was granted an environmental permit by the Environment Agency in 2013, which set out how the nuclear power plant could take water from the Severn Estuary for cooling. This permit required measures be taken to reduce impact on the fish population.
The company no longer wants to install one of these measures, an acoustic fish deterrent, and has now applied to change its permit to reflect this.
NNB Genco Ltd has submitted a number of reports along with its application, including a justification report which explains the company’s reasoning behind the proposed design for the abstraction and associated fish protection measures.
Also included is and an impingement assessment, looking at the numbers of fish that the company believe may be trapped or killed within the power station’s cooling water system and the impacts on the fish community of the Bristol Channel.
You can view the application and all supporting documents online here to inform your comments, which must be made by 4th June, 2019. Alternatively, write to psc-waterquality@environment-agency.gov.uk or P&SC – WQ Team, Quadrant 2, 99 Parkway Avenue, Sheffield, S9 4WF.
As cooling water will be abstracted from marine waters, and therefore below the low tide mark, NNB Genco Ltd will also need to vary permissions it has from the Planning Inspectorate and the Marine Management Organisation. Separate consultations will be held by these organisations.
