Representation by Graham Ford
- Date submitted
- 26 August 2020
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
Building a large nuclear power station on sand, on a rapidly eroding coastline with rising sea levels is clearly extremely dangerous, and should not be allowed, for the sake of present and future generations. It would be devastating for the entire area. To do so in an area of outstanding natural beauty and special scientific interest will damage the environment for wildlife, visitors and residents immediately and irreparably. To grant permission to a foreign owned company, with a history of overspending and missing deadlines, to exploit this region for the benefit of foreign investors, in order to provide energy which will be paid for by British consumers is bound to lead to exploitation. Britain is no longer part of the EU, and exchange rate risk will be paid for by British consumers and will be completely beyond UK control. This looks like it could become a repeat of Hinkley Point C which is reason enough to deny permission to EDF. East Anglia is a comparatively quiet and unspoilt area with low unemployment and a shortage of housing. It is unsuited to a large influx of vehicular traffic, rail traffic and increased population. The main transport routes in all directions will be overstretched and congestion will increase to the inconvenience and anger of the local population and tourist industries. The A12 will be unable to cope with the increased traffic associated with such a massive project. Night time rail traffic and vehicular traffic will increase noise levels and pollution dramatically for the residents of numerous small towns and villages, Woodbridge for example, for years to come. It is clear that some companies, French and Chinese, property developers, and others would benefit far more than the local residents and the wider communities. Any attempt to push this through at a time when the whole population is distracted by Covid 19 must not be allowed. Renewable energy and wind energy has in the past ten years overtaken nuclear energy on grounds of cost, but if more nuclear power is required in the UK then several small-scale reactors built by British Companies would be a better solution. Small scale reactors could be built more quickly, would be more flexible, would cause less local damage, could be placed where they are needed, and would be under the control of the UK. The environmental risks would be localised and major incidents could be smaller and more easily dealt with.