nuclear-news

‘Fish disco’ plan revived to protect salmon from Hinkley Point C.

Energy company EDF has proposed an acoustic fish deterrent to stop fish in
the Severn Estuary being sucked into the nuclear power station. EDF
previously ditched plans for an acoustic fish deterrent, a device designed
to keep Atlantic salmon, eel and other species away from a cooling water
intake pipe for Hinkley Point C in Somerset, due to fears that maintaining
it for 60 years would put divers at risk.

The former minister Michael Gove
mockingly called the measure, a condition of the plant’s planning
permission, a “fish disco”. Now it’s returning, but as a mobile
disco. Instead of the originally proposed 280 loudspeakers permanently
attached to concrete structures, ceramic transducers will be installed that
can be lifted up and down in lobster pot-style containers, negating the
need for divers.

The devices will produce a sound which can be tuned to
precise frequencies to deter specific species. Engineers will be able to
maintain them by raising them to the water’s surface. However, it also
means the axe for EDF’s interim plan to build salt marshes along the
River Severn as a compensatory measure. Mark Lloyd, the CEO of The Rivers
Trust charity, welcomed the firm’s about-turn to honour its commitment on
fish protections. But he said the company should still create salt marsh
habitat or passages to help salmon, as some will still be sucked to their
death despite the deterrent.

 Times 5th March 2025
https://www.thetimes.com/uk/environment/article/fish-disco-plan-edf-hinkley-point-c-j303w9rdk

March 9, 2025 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | environment, UK