IFM challenges ‘fish disco’ narrative: protecting the Severn’s fish costs just 0.12% of Hinkley C budget

Environmental protections at Hinkley C that the government’s nuclear taskforce has labelled as ludicrous in cost represent just 0.12% of the project’s total budget, the Institute of Fisheries Management warns, and the measures were originally chosen by the company building the plant.  

A claim that has become known as the fish disco, included in the government’s nuclear regulatory taskforce review to support its conclusions, alleges that the cost of environmental protection measures at Hinkley C nuclear power station on the Severn Estuary is excessive and, as such, ludicrous. IFM strongly challenges this narrative. The protections in question, including adapted cooling water intakes and a modern acoustic fish deterrent system, represent just 0.12% of the project’s total costs. Critically, these measures were originally selected and designed by the company building the nuclear facility. It is difficult to understand what is now being gained by undermining those decisions, other than mischief-making with a political motive. Cost overruns were previously blamed on the Covid pandemic before environmental protection costs were raised.

IFM is disappointed that a narrative portraying the conservation and protection of a safe and healthy environment as a blocker to growth and development is persisting. This is clearly influencing government policy, which seems intent on weakening or removing existing environmental laws, policies and standards. We welcome the conclusion in the recent Environmental Audit Committee report that nature is not a “blocker” to delivering new housing, but rather a necessity for building resilient towns and neighborhoods. The OEP’s assessment that several emerging legal provisions may represent a regression of environmental protections is concerning. Furthermore, we note and share the widespread concern that data underpinning this narrative is neither sound nor reliable, a point raised in the Lords regarding the nuclear regulatory taskforce review.

The Severn Estuary: a unique ecosystem under threat

People have been fishing in the waters of the Severn Estuary for thousands of years. These waters are some of the richest and most diverse in the UK, with around 111 species recorded. They are an important nursery ground for many species of marine fish and a migratory corridor for salmon, eels, twaite shad and lamprey. The UK is a seafaring and fishing nation.

Tracking of fish species including the twaite shad now shows the area around the new intake location is an important feeding ground for all four of the UK populations of this species, with more than half the populations present in close proximity to the new Hinkley C intake locations annually.

The River Severn is the longest river in the UK, stretching over 220 miles from its source in Wales to the Severn Estuary in England. Historically it is one of the UK’s best salmon rivers. The socio-economic value of angling, its role in wellbeing, and its place in our culture and sense of who we are, is well known.

Salmon in crisis

Atlantic salmon are listed as endangered in GB. The 2024 assessment data reveals that 88% of England’s principal salmon rivers, including the Severn, are classified as ‘at risk’ or ‘probably at risk’. Anglers and fishing communities have endured significant hardship while many work to recover a stock standing at just 7% of its sustainable level. Other fish species of the Severn estuary are also threatened and protected in law.

The precautionary principle

There is an important principle, the precautionary approach, where evidence is limited and impacts are uncertain. It is sadly not sensationalist or ludicrous to suggest that the cooling water requirements for Hinkley C could be the death knell for self-sustaining wild salmon in the entire river system. Shad, eel and lamprey are also under threat of extinction from the river.

The question must surely be whether the people of the Severn catchment and the public more widely are content to risk irreversible damage to the fish and fisheries of the UK’s longest river and accept the ecosystem disruption that will follow.

IFM is confident that appropriate, data-informed measures in the consent order for the Hinkley C development can avoid the worst-case scenario of river population extinctions. We have convened expertise in this area. The expense of adapting the cooling water intakes, which themselves represent the major element of the costs, and a modern acoustic fish deterrent system must be seen in context, and as investment in maintaining important principles established in law and international agreements. They represent just 0.12% of project costs.