New Hinkley Point nuclear power station ‘will kill 250,000 fish a day’ in ‘giant plughole’ designed to keep the plant cool
- Hinkley Point nuclear power’s must be scrapped, environmental groups
- The plant’s cooling system will take in 130,000 litres of sea water a second
- Environmental groups say it will injure sea animals and kill 250,000 fish a day
Marine and conservation groups say plans for a cooling system for a new nuclear power station in Somerset they say will kill 250,000 fish a day must be altered or scrapped.
Hinkley Point nuclear power’s cooling system is described as an under water ‘plughole’ that will suck in 130,000 litres of water a second.
Along with the water, it will also draw in thousands of fish into the twin inlet tunnels that are as wide as a double-decker bus and span two miles out into the Severn estuary, The Times reported
Environmental organisations claim the plant, own France’s state-own energy group EDF, has not properly taken into account the impact of the cooling system’s affect on the area’s marine life which is a Special of Conservation (SAC).
Marine and conservation groups say plans for a cooling system New Hinkley Point nuclear power station in Somerset will kill thousands of fish a day. The plant has a Fish Recovery and Return System in the water intake tunnel to stop large fish from being sucked while another channel will divert fish back out to sea (EDF’s diagram of the Fish Recovery and Return System)
The plant’s Fish Recovery and Return System will have a 5mm mesh barrier set up in the water intake tunnel, 3.3 km long, to stop large fish from being sucked while another channel will divert fish, dead or alive, back out to sea.
Marine groups say it could injure or kill salmon, cod, twaite shad, sea animals and eels.
EDF said the FRR will kills an estimated 650,00 a year.
Chris Fayers, head of environment at Hinkley Point C, said: ‘Studies have shown the power station would have a negligible impact on local fish stocks with the proposed fish protection measures in place.
Marine groups say it could injure or kill salmon, cod, twaite shad, sea animals and eels. EDF said the FRR will kills an estimated 650,00 a year (Pictured: Hinkley Point nuclear power station)
Environmental organisations claim the plant, own France’s state-own energy group EDF, has not properly taken into account the impact of the cooling system’s affect on the Severn Estuary and surround area’s marine life, which is a Special of Conservation (SAC)
‘These are a fish return system and water intakes specially designed to slow the water coming into the cooling pipes. Hinkley Point C will be the first power station in the Bristol Channel with fish protection measures.’
James Robinson, of the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust, told The Times: ‘The authorities must decide if it’s worth building a giant plughole to suck millions of sea animals to their deaths, in one of our most important protected marine areas, in order to produce electricity.’
Michele Bowe, Somerset Wildlife Trust director of conservation, said: ‘It is of grave concern that EDF is seeking to cancel one third of the measures originally imposed to protect fish numbers when construction work of the tunnel systems is well under way.’