Sizewell C: heaven or hell?

To The Daily Telegraph

The biggest threat to the environment comes from climate change, which is why we need more nuclear power as a green alternative to fossil fuels. Sizewell will supply six million homes with reliable low-carbon electricity for at least 60 years. Displacing gas, it will prevent about nine million tons of carbon emissions from going into the atmosphere each year. Emissions produced during construction will be offset in the first few months of operation. By creating hundreds of acres of wildlife habitats, we will increase biodiversity around the power station by 19%. The Planning Inspectorate spent six months looking at our proposals in detail and found that the benefits of the project would strongly outweigh the impacts. That’s why local support for Sizewell C outweighs opposition by well over two to one.

Julia Pyke, director of financing and economic regulation, Sizewell C, London

To The Daily Telegraph

The hypocrisy of deeming Sizewell C to be “green” beggars belief. Suffolk will have 15 years of construction traffic hell, with hundreds of heavy lorries every day on our inadequate roads. Minsmere Nature Reserve and the surrounding biodiversity will be fatally compromised by noise, light and damage to the water table. The sea will be affected by the warm-water outflow from the cooling system. The tourist industry will be crippled, with accommodation taken up by the itinerant workforce. And that’s all before an amp of power is produced. Never mind the implications of the post-operational clean-up – a problem conveniently left to our greatgrandchildren. Sizewell C will join HS2 in that great graveyard for overpriced government-backed projects, the tombstone for which will also record the extinction of the Tory Party. Charles Barrington, Woodbridge, Suffolk