Stop Hinkley has been campaigning since 1983 against all the nuclear reactors on the Bristol Channel and the Severn Estuary and is committed to the introduction of greener technologies more appropriate to this millennium.
The costs of nuclear power, which will be paid by us all – now and in the future – are too great to justify the profit made by a few.
We hold monthly meetings and anyone is very welcome to attend by Zoom as we are always pleased to discuss issues and comments on our campaign, though only SH members have voting rights. Please get in touch via Contact Us if you are interested.
We also organise public meetings with speakers. (See Events).
Read some reports events and activities up to 2020 here.
Campaigning against new nuclear
The History
Stop Hinkley started life in the mid-eighties as ‘Stop Hinkley Expansion’ (SHE). As the name suggests, the goal was to ward off the government plan to build a new Pressurised Water Reactor known as Hinkley C.
SHE was central in co-ordinating the opposing groups in the 14 month long public inquiry and in particular linked with Somerset County Council who set up the Consortium of Opposing Local Authorities. Greenpeace UK funded local workers during the campaign, which ensured a high profile in the local media as well as close monitoring of the inquiry proceedings.
After Hinkley C was shelved in 1996 the name was changed to Stop Hinkley. The same year saw a successful campaign to shut down one of the nuclear incinerators at the site during which the Low Level Radiation Campaign were important advisors.
In 1999 a campaign was launched to shut the ageing Hinkley ‘A’ station. Six months later, after much media coverage, top quality public speakers like John Large (nuclear consultant) and a cancer mortality study by Chris Busby, BNFL announced the closure of the station! In a private meeting a BNFL top manager said that although they were prepared to spend a lot of money to solve the engineering problems, the station had lost its credibility through our campaign.
In 2002 the Government announced a moratorium on building new nuclear power stations – again we were key campaigners.
However, in 2017 building eventually started on HPC but it is already way behind schedule and the costs are rocketing. They are trying to save costs by skimping on environmental protection measures but we are, as always, holding them to account and we will be co-ordinating with other groups to campaign vigorously against nuclear power locally and nationally as well as continuing to campaign for renewable energy and energy conservation.
In 2021 we spent £4,000 on a project to analyse the radioactivity in the mud of the Severn Estuary. It was important for us to carry out this investigation as EDF are not willing to do baseline sampling before they dredge radioactive sediment and dump it in the Severn, which will then be dispersed along the coastline.
Stop Hinkley volunteers, in conjunction with an Independent Marine Radioactivity Researcher, collected mud samples along both sides of the Severn Estuary. These were then sent to the Commission for Independent Research and Information on Radioactivity laboratory in France, which showed that significant levels of radioactivity were found on both sides of the Severn Estuary. The survey was repeated in 2022.
Hinkley Point C silo damage, June 2020