Hinkley nuclear plant mud dumping in Severn faces legal challenge

Dredging and mud dumping in the Bristol Channel has sparked on-going protests

Fears that contaminated mud is to be dumped in the Severn estuary are to be heard at the High Court on Tuesday.

Campaigners have brought fresh legal action in the ongoing row over dredging as part of the Hinkley Point C nuclear plant construction.

The original mud dumping off the coast of Cardiff in 2018 led to extensive protests.

Energy company EDF now proposes a new disposal site near Portishead, North Somerset and insists it poses no risk.

The energy giant was granted permission by England's Marine Management Organisation (MMO) in August for its latest mud-dumping. One phase of the work has already been carried out.

Dredging is required as part of efforts to construct the new nuclear plant's vast water cooling system, with a further dumping round due later in 2022.

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But campaigners have raised fears the process could be churning up deposits of nuclear waste from the old Hinkley A and B reactors, formerly on the site.

Those claims have previously been dismissed by EDF, Natural Resources Wales and Welsh government.

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The new dumping ground, on the English side of the Channel, is close to a site of special scientific interest at Portbury Wharf Salt Marsh, while both the dredging and disposal locations fall within the Severn Estuary Special Area of Conservation, recognised as an important habitat for fish rearing and other wildlife.

A coalition of environment groups is contesting the lawfulness of the MMO's decision to give the go-ahead at a High Court hearing expected to last three days.

Tarian Hafren, which is Welsh for Severn Shield, argue the MMO did not have the power to revise the licence it had issued to an EDF subsidiary.

It also said the mud dumping should have been subject to a public inquiry - something North Somerset County Council had also called for - and it claims MMO failed to examine the potential impact of dredging on marine life and whether the sediment could have been deposited on land.

Cian Ciaran, campaigner and keyboard player for rock group Super Furry Animals, accused EDF of trying to "avoid further scrutiny by running to the English side of the estuary".

Cian Ciaran of Welsh rock group Super Furry Animals took EDF to court over mud-dumping off Cardiff Bay in 2018

Mr Ciaran added: "We have to come together as a community of people to protect our valuable Severn and its ecology.

"There are alternatives, this is a choice made for convenience and profit, not out of necessity or consideration for the environment or future generations."

EDF's head of environment for Hinkley Point C said dredging in the River Severn was "normal practice" and testing by the government's marine science agency CEFAS had shown the mud poses no risk to the public or the environment.

Chris Fayers added: "Hinkley Point C is one of Britain's biggest projects in the fight to protect the environment from climate change."

An MMO spokesperson said the licence was varied following a public consultation exercise and was based on the "best scientific evidence" available.