Representation by Sonya Exton
- Date submitted
- 28 September 2020
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
EDF’s Sizewell C DCO Relevant Representation Please note my following concerns regarding the above application on the issues of: Climate Change: The IPCC has stated that we are at a crucial point for reducing our GHGs emissions and have seven years to prevent global temperature increasing 1.5 degrees that would have a devastating impact on ecosystems and livelihoods of many worldwide. EDF’s promise of building Sizewell C to have it producing low carbon energy in hopefully 9 years’ time falls short of this timescale. In the next 9 years it will be contributing to GHG emissions. Local community investment in solar panels on roofs can provide renewable energy within 7 years as well as educate the individual on energy use and efficiency thus reducing our demand for energy consumption. Regeneration of land would also drawdown carbon from the atmosphere as soon as it is planted. Note: a search on the IPCC’s website for ‘nuclear power’ had no results. Biodiversity: At the UK scale, the abundance and distribution of species has, on average, declined over recent decades and many measures suggest this decline continues. There has been no let-up in the net loss of nature in the UK. – State of Nature Report 2019 Whilst EDF state they are not building on land owned by RSPB Minsmere, they will be excavating large areas of land around it that provide important feeding and nesting grounds for many of the bird/mammal species seen at Minsmere by its thousands of visitors. The Marsh Harrier, for example, forages widely often over farmland and sometimes nests in crops – RSPB Pocket Guide to British Birds. Promise of creating more land for wildlife during construction does not guarantee a better environment. Removal of habitat before and during construction, especially for invertebrates, is likely to result in a loss in species during relocation and thus lack of food, poor soil quality and plant pollination in the new area. Add to this our changing weather patterns with hotter summers and larger amounts of rainfall in shorter periods, there is no guarantee that these new sites will be successful. This work should have been implemented already with corridors in place to encourage natural movement. Our aquatic life, already diminishing owing to warming seas and over fishing, is also being lost to the intake pipes that indiscriminately suck in hundreds of tonnes of fish. The John Dory being one that no longer appears to exist in our coastal waters. Further investigation is needed into how these intake pipes are affecting the fish species along the Suffolk Coast. Carbon 14 – request to increase from 500 to 600 emissions: I am not a scientist and need more information about C-14 and the other radionuclides that are created and released into the atmosphere and marine environment. My only reference is an article in BMJ on Case-control study of prostatic cancer in employees of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority. Suffolk Villages and Towns: Villagers will be affected by the increase of traffic, making leaving their homes a highly unpleasant if not terrifying ordeal. Light, dust and noise pollution from the park and ride sites, railway lines and A12 will affect wellbeing of those living nearby. Commuter times for many local workers will increase as they will have to allow extra time for exiting junctions that will have a knock-on effect on other time constraints. Further housing development as a result of workers needing somewhere to live will change village dynamics as well as add further GHGs to the atmosphere. Has this been included in EDF’s carbon offsetting calculations? The worker campus at Eastbridge will increase the population 6 times. The village does not have the facilities or road structure to cope with the new demands this will bring. More cars, more pollution (GHGs). Reduction in tourism owing to loss of walking routes that use the quiet roads. It is very difficult to see how Sizewell A and B have contributed to the town of Leiston. What is different about Sizewell C? Application Process: Viewing the application digitally has proven highly difficult and not suitable for a project of this kind.