Representation by Nigel Smith
- Date submitted
- 28 September 2020
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
I wish make a Relevant Representation to raise the following issues of concern about Sizewell C. 1. Requirement for energy production • It is unclear why a huge generation capacity is required in East Anglia when off shore wind power and existing generation more than fulfils the needs of the area. • Transmission of power to other part of the country incurs significant transmission loss that requires over-generation of power to circumvent the transmission losses. • If energy is required to support the UK governments ‘northern power house’ agenda, then generation should be local to that area. 2. Coastal Erosion • Within the lifetime of this proposal (which includes construction, active generation, decommissioning and subsequent mothballing of the atomic cores and storage of waste nuclear material for centuries) the coastline of East Anglia will have significantly eroded. In the last few hundred years one of the 10 major English towns in 15th century, Dunwich, that lays one mile to North of the site has been completely consumed by the sea along with significant erosion occurring from Norfolk to Essex. It is foolhardy to suggest that this part of the coast will not succumb further to major erosion. • Even without global warming and the subsequent rise in sea levels, the eastern part of the UK is actually dropping due to tectonic plate realignment after the last ice age that will result in loss of existing low laying coastal areas. 3. Environmental impact • The area around Sizewell is designated as ANoB and with international recognition of its importance. The proposal will destroy significant parts of this area and negatively impact the adjacent nature reserves. • Covering the proposed site and so called temporary areas adjacent areas in the surrounding countryside with concrete and roads to support the development will cause huge negative impact on the environment. • The existing road and rail infrastructure is not capable of such a huge increase in numbers and weights of vehicles and carriages. The proposal does not understand the fragile state of local infrastructure to support this development. • It is stated that Nuclear power generation is safe, and pollution is not considered to be a problem. Therefore, if it is non-polluting and safe, any generation facilities should be located close to where the power is required and not in a remote environmentally sensitive area. 4. Economic impact • The proposal suggests that there will be economic benefits for the local area and thousands of jobs created. This overlooks the fact that there are not thousands of construction workers in the area looking for work, or that any existing builders and construction people would suddenly migrate to Sizewell. If they did it would cause a major problem for residents in East Anglia who would no longer be able to employ local trades people. The impact on the area would be a starvation of local trades to the residents of Suffolk and surrounding area to the detriment of local prosperity. Thus it is very unlikely that local work force would benefit, in much the same way as Sizewell B development was a temporary blip in employment and has not been sustained. I wish to endorse the Relevant Representation submitted by Stop Sizewell C. I wish to state that I consider the Sizewell C application to be totally unsuitable for a digital examination process.