NNB Generation Company (HPC)
Limited, Hinkley Point C Power Station, Hinkley Point, near
Bridgwater, Somerset, TA5 1UD
Permit
application number EPR/HP3228XT/V004
Summary
- In March 2019, we
wrote to you to tell you we had received a permit variation
from NNB Generation Company (HPC) Limited (NNB GenCo), the
operating company at Hinkley Point C nuclear power station,
which is located on the north Somerset coast near Bridgwater,
Somerset.
- The Company wants
to remove one of the environmental protection measures, an
Acoustic Fish Deterrent (AFD), from its cooling water intake
pipes and so applied to us to vary its existing permit to
remove the AFD.
- We ran a public
consultation in 2019 to seek your comments on the proposed
application.
- This briefing
note explains what has happened to date and what happens
next.
Introduction
The original permit was granted to NNB GenCo by the
Environment Agency in 2013. The permit covered the discharge of
trade effluent, consisting of cooling water, back into the
Bristol Channel. The initial design required the Company to
abstract and discharge this cooling water using three measures,
which would work together, to reduce the environmental impact of
this activity. The measures were a Low Velocity Side Entry
intake, a Fish Recovery & Return System (FRR) and an AFD
system.
What does
the Company want to do?
The Company no longer believes it is necessary or
practicable to install an AFD system on its marine intake pipes.
In March 2019, we wrote to you to tell you we had received an
application from the Company to vary its current permit to remove
the conditions related to this measure.
What
happened next?
The Company submitted a number of reports and data
in support of its application to vary its permit. We ran a public
consultation from 15 March - 26 July 2019 to seek your comments
on the proposed application. The consultation was available on
our on-line consultation portal called Citizen Space. A link to
this was provided in our first briefing note.
We received in excess of 100 comments following our
consultation. We are considering your comments, together with the
information supplied by the Company, to help us decide whether
the Company's proposals are acceptable or not.
Why were
we consulting?
We ran a public consultation because HPC is a major
infrastructure project, important at local, national and
international scales. We understood that changes at the site were
likely to be of significant public interest.
Where are
we now?
The information the Company provided to us in
support of its application is technically challenging. When we
reviewed the application, we recognised that further information
about the Fish Recovery & Return system (FRR) was required.
We requested the information by issuing a Schedule 5 notice to
the Company.
As the Company wants to remove the AFD from its
cooling water intake pipes, we need to fully understand what
effect this will have on the FRR system and the 'receiving environment',
i.e. water quality, species and habitats, when water (including
biota) is returned from the FRR system back into the Bristol
Channel.
On 7 October 2019 we issued a Schedule 5 notice to
the Company, asking for a revised and updated Water Framework
Directive Compliance Assessment document to include their
consideration of:
·
The discharge of
potentially polluting matter from the FRR outlet.
·
The Marine Strategy
Framework Directive - in respect of the discharge of potentially
polluting matter and the effect this may have when returned to
the Bristol Channel.
·
A wider scope of
water bodies, to include Bristol Channel inner and upstream fresh
water bodies, and sensitive features as identified by the Water
Framework Directive.
We gave the Company a deadline of 7 December 2019 to
respond to our request. This deadline was subsequently extended
at the Company's request.
We received a response from the Company on 17
January 2020 but they failed to answer all of our questions. We
requested and then received a further revised response on 21
April 2020, which we are currently reviewing.
Part of the permit determination process requires us
to undertake a new Habitats Regulations Assessment (HRA) in line
with the requirements of the 'Conservation of Habitats and
Species Regulations 2017'. We need to do this to understand the
effects the proposed changes will have on the integrity of the
European designated sites and Ramsar sites.
The new HRA is an ongoing, substantial piece of
work, which is being internally and externally peer-reviewed.
Keeping
you updated
We will only issue a permit variation if the Company
can demonstrate it will have appropriate management systems in
place to conduct its operations without causing unacceptable harm
to the environment or human health.
We will only make a draft decision on the permit
variation once we have analysed all the relevant evidence. If we
are minded to grant the permit we will run a further consultation
to ask for your comments before making a final decision.
This second consultation will allow you to raise any
further issues you feel we need to be aware of before making our
final decision. We are hoping to reach a draft decision by
October 2020.
If you would like your name added to our mailing
list for this purpose, or you would like to be removed from our
mailing list please email
us.
Please do not send further consultation comments to
this address.
Where can
I find more information?
Copies
of our Schedule 5 request and the Company's response are
publically available. You may request electronic copies of these
from our National Customer Contact Centre.
Please quote the following number in your request: SW/EPRHP3228XT/006. Unfortunately, we are unable to provide
hard-copy documents during the current circumstances.
Email
us if you have an enquiry about our work on other
issues.
You can continue to report any environmental
incidents at the site via our free 24 hour incident hotline on
0800 80 70 60.
Our approach to regulation and enforcement during
the coronavirus outbreak
We are working hard with the government and other
partners to protect the public and environment from the effects
of coronavirus (COVID-19). Read about our response on GOV.UK
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