All posts by Alison Downes

EADT – “Critical Issues” to be discussed at Sizewell C hearings

https://www.eadt.co.uk/news/sizewell-c-september-2021-hearings-8274260

“Critical issues” with plans for a new nuclear power station on the Suffolk coast – including the impact building work would have on residents – are to be discussed at public hearings.

The Planning Inspectorate is holding a series of Issue Specific Hearings on EDF Energy’s bid to build Sizewell C as part of its formal examination of proposals for a new twin-reactor.

Hearings have been taking place this week, with another four days of hearings scheduled to take place at Snape Maltings in mid-September.

The first day on Tuesday, September 14 will look at flood risk and water supply issues, while the following day will examine the “potential adverse effects on human health and living conditions of local residents during construction”.

The hearings on Thursday, September 16 will look at landscape and heritage issues, including “potential adverse effects on heritage assets forming part of the Heveningham Hall estate and National Trust Coastguard Cottages”.

The code of practice for the construction of the site will be assessed on Friday, September 17.

A spokesman for EDF Energy said: “We are pleased the hearings are going ahead, as they will allow the examining authority to continue to explore all our proposals and enable all interested parties to participate.”

But Paul Collins, chairman of the Stop Sizewell C campaign group, said: “We are well over two-thirds of the way through the Sizewell C examination, which has exposed many serious failings in EDF’s application.

“There are still a  number of critical issues to be heard.

“Whether or not the Planning Inspectorate will agree with our MP’s recommendation that the examination is extended remains to be seen, although we note EDF’s latest financial report is now hinting that a secretary of state decision is due ‘mid-2022’ as opposed to April 2022, which suggests that they at least are expecting this.”

Once the examination process is concluded, an inspector will make a recommendation to government as to whether the nuclear plant should go ahead or not.

Sizewell C had delayed the original submission of the planning application by two months and extended the period of public registration due to the coronavirus pandemic.

This had followed eight years of public consultation to form the proposals for the new power station.

The meetings will be live-streamed and also available to watch afterwards.

To watch the hearings, click here.

EADT – Anger over desalination plant plans

https://www.eadt.co.uk/news/sizewell-desalination-plant-consultation-water-supplies-8238290

Assurance over drinking water supplies as desalination unit planned for Sizewell C

Richard Cornwell. Published: 7:30 AM August 16, 2021    Updated: 8:14 AM August 16, 2021

A temporary desalination plant will have to be installed to provide enough water during the construction of Sizewell C if the £20billion nuclear power plant gets the go-ahead.

Consultation is under way on the plans for the unit, which would take sea water and remove the salt to create drinking quality water, because water companies cannot guarantee supplies.

But opponents of the power project say until the desalination plant is ready it will mean 40 more trucks a day visiting the site to deliver potable water.

Paul Collins, chair of Stop Sizewell C, said: “This latest consultation is yet another example of EDF trying to fit the square peg of Sizewell C into the round hole of East Suffolk.

“It exemplifies how wrong this project is for our area, lacking the necessary infrastructure, and calls into question what other last minute changes and additions EDF will demand as the obstacles of this wrongly-sited project emerge.

“The issue of fresh water supplies has been raised since the start. EDF’s claims that a water desalinisation plant and its diesel generator power supply, plus 40 additional tankers of water a day for the first 9 to 12 months, won’t mean increases in HGVs and CO2 emissions are not credible. And we are gravely concerned its operation would further damage the beach, impact coastal processes and create a toxic environment for local marine life.”

A Sizewell C spokesperson said: “Clean water from a dependable source would be required from the earliest stages of construction of Sizewell C.

“While our planning application includes proposals to access water from a permanent water main, ongoing work with stakeholders throughout this time, including the water companies has indicated that there could now be a risk that the full requirement of potable water in the early years of construction will not be met.

“We are proposing a change to our planning application to include a temporary desalination plant on the main construction site, away from both Sizewell Marshes SSSI and Sizewell beach.

“The proposed temporary desalination plant would provide a reliable, continuous source of water while the permanent water transfer main is completed.

“During the 4-6 months it would take to build the temporary desalination plant, clean water would be delivered to the Sizewell C site by water tanker trucks. This would not increase the overall number of HGVs predicted for the project during the early years of construction.

“The construction and operation of Sizewell C, including this proposed change to our construction Water Supply Strategy, will not impact the local supply of drinking water.

“When things change it is important that we listen and make changes. In that way we work to achieve planning consent for a project that reduces as much of the impacts of construction on local communities as possible.”

Telegraph – EDF Delays Final Decision on Sizewell C

8 August 2021

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2021/08/08/edf-delays-final-decision-sizewell-c/

EDF delays final decision on Sizewell C

French energy giant now expects to leave it as late as 2023 before deciding whether to proceed with Suffolk nuclear power project

The timeline for EDF to decide whether to go ahead with the £20bn Sizewell C power station has slipped amid a lengthy planning approval process that is playing out as funding negotiations with ministers continue.

The French power giant now expects to make a final investment decision on the Suffolk plant at the end of 2022 or in 2023, compared to its previous expectations of mid-2022.

The plant, set to generate enough power for about 6m homes, would be the second new UK nuclear plant in a generation after Hinkley Point C in Somerset, which EDF is building with minority Chinese partner China General Nuclear (CGN).

Almost all of the UK’s ageing plants are set to shut down by the end of this decade, leaving a gap in the nation’s power supply just as demand grows due to rising use of electric cars.

Nuclear power provides about 17pc of the nation’s annual power supply, and maintaining at least some of that capacity is regarded as important in Whitehall because it does not generate carbon emissions.

EDF is in negotiations with the Government about a funding deal for Sizewell C and will also need external investors.

Legislation is likely to be brought forward to allow developers to recoup costs during construction from household energy bills.

However, talks have been overshadowed in recent weeks by reports that ministers are seeking ways to block CGN from Sizewell and future UK nuclear projects. CGN has a 20pc development stake in Sizewell with an option to participate in the construction phase.

EDF submitted its application for a development consent order to the planning inspectorate last May, delayed by two months due to the pandemic, and has since made more than a dozen changes.

It has just submitted plans to build a temporary desalination facility alongside the site to provide fresh water to the plant during construction, involving up to nine 40ft shipping containers.

Northumbrian Water, which owns local water supplier Essex & Suffolk Water, has said a new mains pipeline will be needed to bring in water from another catchment area, but is unlikely to be ready until at least 2026.

An EDF spokesman said it wanted the planning approval process to be as thorough as possible so that local communities’ and others’ feedback is listened to and the best design for the plant is developed.

Stop Sizewell C, a local campaign group, said the changes to the water supply plan “exemplifies just how wrong this project is for our area, lacking the necessary infrastructure”.

Both Sizewell C and Hinkley Point C will use the new European Pressurised Water Reactor technology which has been deployed for the first time at a plant in Taishan majority-owned by CGN, with EDF holding 30pc.

The plant, which has been running since late 2018, was shut at the end of last month for “maintenance” due to cracked fuel rods, with small levels of radiation detected in cooling waters around the rods.

Sizewell C is expected to take between nine and 12 years to build.