Proposals to dump hundreds of thousands of tons of sediment into the Bristol Channel face a legal challenge – in a campaign headed up by a member of Welsh rock band Super Furry Animals.
The Severn Estuary is a designated Marine Protected Area, a highly valuable wildlife zone for birds and marine life, and important for fish rearing.
Thousands of people live around the upper estuary and use its shores and waters for recreation.
French energy provider EDF is currently planning to launch the second phase of sediment dumping at Portishead.
Half a million tons will be dredged from around its Hinkley Point nuclear power site, where it is building a new power station.
EDF says the mud it’s dumping is no more radioactive than rotten bananas and quotes a report commissioned by the Welsh Government that found disposal at sea to be “suitable”.
But campaigners, including SFA’s Cian Ciaran and actor Keith Allen, believe this will recklessly endanger coastal communities and wildlife as the materials contain chemical and radioactive contaminants.
It follows 100,000 tons of mud from near Hinkley nuclear plants being dumped in the Severn Estuary at Cardiff Grounds in 2018.
This was despite a massive petition, hearings and a Senedd debate.
The dispersing mud drifted downstream to Barry Island and other popular beaches.
A coalition called Save the Severn Estuary said: “While dumped at Portishead, it will soon reach the Newport and Chepstow mudflats, as well as the Avon, Usk, Wye and Rhymney estuaries.
"Because of permitted discharges and unpermitted leaks from the Hinkley A and B stations last century, the mud is known to be contaminated.
“Radioactive microparticles are invisible to the tests used by government agencies and are known to cause cancers and mutations if they get into humans, animals, marine life or birds.”
They want the licence for the mud to be dumped to be revoked as they say it breaches international obligations to protect marine environments and will result in the “slaughter” of fish for 60 years to come.
- crowdjustice.com/case/save-the-severn-estuary
