View on the ground

Dungeness

Dungeness on the south Kent coast between Hastings and Folkestone was one of the eleven sites that could potentially host a new nuclear station included on the Government’s list published on 15th April 2009. As part of a consultation  on Draft National Policy Statements (NPSs) on Energy Infrastructure, it was proposed to drop Dungeness from the list. It is not, therefore, included in the draft Nuclear NPS  which was issued on 9th November 2009 and contains the proposed final list of ten sites. The consultation document does, however, include a site assessment  for Dungeness.

The consultation closed on 22nd February 2010. The Government says it is now considering the consultation responses and will publish a formal response document later in 2010 together with the final National Policy Statements. At this stage dropping Dungeness from the list is only a proposal, so there is always the possibility that the site will still be included in the final list. Under the new Planning Act the finalised Nuclear NPS will establish the ‘need’ for new reactors, so the subsequent planning process will only deal with site specific issues.

Dungeness is home to two closed Magnox reactors (Dungeness A), owned by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA). These reactors are being decommissioning by Magnox South Ltd. on behalf of the NDA, which is a company owned by Energy Solutions. 

Dungeness is also home to two operating Advanced Gas-cooled Reactors (Dungeness B). British Energy   which is part of EDF Energy is the owner and operator of Dungeness B nuclear power station. It held six community meetings  during January 2009, in and around Romney Marsh, to discuss the potential for new nuclear build at the Dungeness site. The meetings provided an update on plans to build at least one new reactor unit of up to 1600MW at Dungeness. Staff from British Energy and Royal Haskoning, an environmental consultant firm carrying out impact assessments on British Energy's potential new build projects, were present.

As part of its deal with competition authorities to buy British Energy, EDF Energy agreed to sell land at either Dungeness or Heysham. It is not clear what the effect of Dungeness being dropped from the list of potential sites will have on this.

Middlesex University Flood Hazard Research Centre looked at the effect of expected sea level rises and increases in storm surge over the next 200 years at Dungeness and concluded the site appears to be highly threatened. Defending the site is "likely to become economically unsustainable". It cannot be considered a suitable location for a new reactor.

Dungeness was dropped from the proposed list because any new reactor on the site would need to be built further back from the coastline to enable adequate sea defences to be put in place which in turn would destroy the shingle ridges which are the subject of strict environmental protection. Natural England made a strong case for the protection of the fragile eco-system at Dungeness, as did RSPB.

Since the exclusion of Dungeness from the list, the nuclear industry and its supporters have been campaigning for its re-instatement. The Nuclear Industry Association (NIA), in its memo to the Energy and Climate Change Committee in January 2010 said all the nominated sites “have the potential to have an impact on internationally designated sites [of ecological importance] so it is not clear why the Dungeness site alone should be excluded on this discretionary criterion”.

Shepway District Council and Kent County Council have both called for a rethink, and Damian Collins, the new Tory MP for Folkestone and Hythe, has taken over campaigning for a Dungeness C where Michael Howard left off.

Natural England’s submission to the Energy and Climate Change Committee supported the decision to exclude Dungeness from the list of sites “due to the extreme difficulty associated with mitigating and compensating for the environmental impacts on a rare, internationally important shingle habitat.”

Local Group: Kent Against a Radioactive Environment

Last Updated 2nd June 2010

This section of the website has been developed thanks to funding from Polden-Puckham Charitable Foundation, and the Andrew Wainwright Reform Trust.