Bradwell B (BRB) Planning Application No. 20/00157 to carry out ground investigations, load test and associated works in connection with a proposed new Nuclear Power Station at Bradwell-on-Sea, together with the creation of two site compound areas and associated parking areas.
Below are some suggested grounds which you might wish to use to object to this Planning Application. Use as few or as many as you like.
No need for Bradwell B:
- no need for a new nuclear power station at Bradwell;
- it could not come into operation until the mid – late 2030s by which time alternative renewable sources of electricity will be available;
- any new nuclear power station would displace cheaper, renewable energy alternatives.
This Planning Application is, therefore, unnecessary as it is seeking permission for works that will not be needed.
The site is designated as ‘potentially suitable’ for nuclear development only until 2025:
- sites ‘potentially suitable’ for the deployment of new nuclear power stations by 2025, including Bradwell B, were designated by the Government in 2011;
- only one of the original 8 sites, Hinkley Point C, has met that requirement;
- Bradwell B could not be operational at the earliest until the mid – late 2030s;
- Government site designation for Bradwell B will run out in 2025;
- the Government is reviewing sites for new nuclear power stations that could be deployed by 2035 and in 2017 consulted on this;
- at this time no decision has been made on the designation of sites for new nuclear power stations;
- therefore, the Bradwell site has no formal designation beyond 2025.
- only one of the original 8 sites, Hinkley Point C, has met that requirement;
Consequently this Planning Application must be regarded as premature and permission should not be granted for disruptive ground investigations, etc. at a site that has not been designated as suitable for the development of nuclear power.
The site is unviable:
- the Bradwell B site is low-lying and vulnerable and this vulnerability will become more problematic as the impacts of climate change increase;
- over the next century and beyond, climate change will impact on sea-level rise, storm surges and other coastal processes, including the flooding of vulnerable coastal areas;
- impacts during operations of Bradwell B could well be severe and beyond 2100 conditions are unknowable;
- it will prove difficult and costly to defend the site until the end of the century and impossible thereafter;
- when the power station ceases generating, the highly radioactive wastes will remain stored on the site up until the end of the next century, or indefinitely, in deteriorating conditions;
- during this time the site is likely to become unmanageable, even in the event that a national nuclear wastes repository were available.
- over the next century and beyond, climate change will impact on sea-level rise, storm surges and other coastal processes, including the flooding of vulnerable coastal areas;
[In any event, the highly radioactive spent fuel would require to remain on the site for at least 50 years just to cool down before it could be removed. It is proposed that Bradwell B would operate for 60 years from the mid – late 2030s which means it would cease operations in the mid – late 2090s, and, therefore, that, as things stand, spent fuel would require to be stored on the site until the mid – late 22nd century]
Therefore, there is no point in Maldon District Council granting Planning Permission for ground investigations, etc. on a site that will become unviable during the lifetime of the proposed development.
Scale of the proposed Bradwell B project:
- the scale and impacts of the proposed development are vast;
- granting permission for these ground investigations, which would enable something of this scale to be built, should be resisted: the development would cover a very large area; it is proposed to have two huge nuclear reactors, large cooling towers with intake and outfall tunnels in the estuary for cooling water; there will be turbine halls, long-term radioactive waste stores, ancillary buildings, port facilities, etc.
- the proposed development is so large that it robs the investigations of any justification at all.
Planning Permission should not be granted for ground investigations that would lead to a project of such a scale that it would totally overwhelm its environment.
Detrimental impacts of the proposed Bradwell B:
- the detrimental effects on the ecology and marine life of the Blackwater estuary would seem to be so serious as to defy any mitigation;
- the impacts on the lives of people in nearby communities will be huge and in some cases, life-changing: frequent movements of HGVs through towns and villages on the Dengie Peninsula, particularly during the 9 – 12 year construction phase of Bradwell B; the compulsory purchase of homes; the disruption to the lives of those in communities on the north side of the Blackwater, particularly that of Mersea Island (a mere 2 miles directly over the estuary and downwind of the site) from the construction of a major industrial site.
Now that BRB has revealed its plans for the Bradwell B project, there can be no doubt that the ground investigations seeking approval from Maldon District Council are a precursor to the construction of a huge nuclear power station.
The impacts during the long construction phase of the proposed new power station and the impact of having to live in the vicinity of what is a potentially dangerous infrastructure with long-term highly radioactive waste stores on the site is, quite frankly, terrifying.
I urge Maldon District Council to refuse this Planning Application.
- granting permission for these ground investigations, which would enable something of this scale to be built, should be resisted: the development would cover a very large area; it is proposed to have two huge nuclear reactors, large cooling towers with intake and outfall tunnels in the estuary for cooling water; there will be turbine halls, long-term radioactive waste stores, ancillary buildings, port facilities, etc.