Hinkley Point C
Does ‘fish disco’ show we’re dancing to the wrong tune on regulations? Hinkley Point C’s fish protections have been criticised as a waste of money but environmental charities said the outrage was manufactured.
For the twaite shad of the Bristol Channel, it has been a strange few months. Ordinarily, few people bother with shad. Smallish, silverish, a little like a less charismatic herring, generally they are left alone. Not this year. Starting in May they have been tracked. They have been chipped. They have been played some really odd sounds. And now, as they somewhat bemusedly navigate what has become known as the Hinkley Point C fish disco, they have been presented to the prime minister as an exemplar of all that is wrong with our nuclear regulations.
The Fingleton report on nuclear regulation is long and considered. Its 162 pages take in capital financing, nuclear risks and decommissioning obligations. But it was just a few paragraphs about fish that ended up catching the headlines. “Hinkley Point C will have more fish protection measures than any other power station in the world,” wrote John Fingleton, commissioned by the government to find ways to make nuclear cheaper. “It has spent £700 million on their design and implementation,” he said. The outcome on protected fish? “These measures would save 0.083 salmon per year, along with 0.028 sea trout, 6 river lamprey, 18 allis shad, and 528 twaite shad.”
“The government’s propaganda machine is working overtime to perpetuate the false narrative that nature blocks development,” Joan Edwards, from the Wildlife Trusts, said. It is, she said, “confected outrage about a fish disco”. Every second it is running, Hinkley Point C, which is still under construction, will suck in 134 cubic metres of seawater. From three kilometres out, in the murky estuary, the water will rush along pipes towards the reactor. There, the cold waters of the Bristol Channel will meet the superheated waters of a steam turbine.
Times 25th Nov 2025
https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/does-fish-disco-show-were-dancing-to-the-wrong-tune-on-regulations-99v2tsnvs