Representation by Michael Olding
- Date submitted
- 22 August 2020
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
I guess that I am one of those classified as the "silent majority", not one for normally writing to express my views, but I think the time has come to put "pen to paper" as it were. I am writing to express my opposition to the construction of Sizewell C nuclear power station, with the main reasons being as follows: 1) Firstly, the detrimental environmental impact of such a large-scale construction site and the very long-term implications relating to nuclear power generation. There is no going away from the fact that the construction project is huge and will have a catastrophic impact on the local environment. Not only to the bird and animal life around the site and just north at RSPB Minsmere, but the large number of construction vehicular movements will be totally misplaced for residents within The Suffolk Heritage Coastal area. As our local representative, you must see that and listen to what local people are saying. Tourism will be hit hard and like other areas that weve seen in recent years, if you kill the golden egg, you never get things back, the economy is hit and the countrys taxes reduce. 2) The nuclear power generating equation just does not stack up. Since the tragic accident in Japan (and others around the world), nuclear power stations of this size are not the way forward and better alternative methods of generating power are currently available. Germany, as I understand, are winding down their nuclear power stations and should be completed by 2022. If however, nuclear is necessary, the technology and know-how for small nuclear reactors is here now and should be seriously looked at prior to giving the go ahead to these costly huge reactor sites. 3) The infrastructure (Doctors, schooling, dental, health support, etc) in this special part of East Anglia is just not sufficient to support a huge influx of temporary construction workers and with the social difficulties that would follow, many issues would ensue causing major problems to the local towns and villages. Many of the services are currently having issues trying to serve the local inhabitants already, as you are aware. 4) Paying for the nuclear construction? If the UK Government is looking to finance the whole project with Chinese investment, how on earth can you justify this if you cannot trust the Chinese to upgrade our mobile network? You cannot have two standards. Like many communications that you will have received about the subject, I ask you to take my concerns seriously and look forward to hearing from you very shortly. I am writing to express my opposition to the construction of Sizewell C nuclear power station, with the main reasons being as follows: 1) Firstly, the detrimental environmental impact of such a large-scale construction site and the very long-term implications relating to nuclear power generation. There is no going away from the fact that the construction project is huge and will have a catastrophic impact on the local environment. Not only to the bird and animal life around the site and just north at RSPB Minsmere, but the large number of construction vehicular movements will be totally misplaced for residents within The Suffolk Heritage Coastal area. As our local representative, you must see that and listen to what local people are saying. Tourism will be hit hard and like other areas that weve seen in recent years, if you kill the golden egg, you never get things back, the economy is hit and the countrys taxes reduce. 2) The nuclear power generating equation just does not stack up. Since the tragic accident in Japan (and others around the world), nuclear power stations of this size are not the way forward and better alternative methods of generating power are currently available. Germany, as I understand, are winding down their nuclear power stations and should be completed by 2022. If however, nuclear is necessary, the technology and know-how for small nuclear reactors is here now and should be seriously looked at prior to giving the go ahead to these costly huge reactor sites. 3) The infrastructure (Doctors, schooling, dental, health support, etc) in this special part of East Anglia is just not sufficient to support a huge influx of temporary construction workers and with the social difficulties that would follow, many issues would ensue causing major problems to the local towns and villages. Many of the services are currently having issues trying to serve the local inhabitants already, as you are aware. 4) Paying for the nuclear construction? If the UK Government is looking to finance the whole project with Chinese investment, how on earth can you justify this if you cannot trust the Chinese to upgrade our mobile network? You cannot have two standards. Like many communications that you will have received about the subject, I ask you to take my concerns seriously.