Sizewell

In September 2021, the Sizewell coastline in Suffolk became the site of a “human wall”.^[1] There, standing in resistance to further coastline destruction, roughly 500 protesters lined up at the location of the proposed sea wall as a physical manifestation of their disapproval towards the construction of a further nuclear powerplant – Sizewell C. But this is not the first instance of Sizewell being a site of public protest towards the construction and use of nuclear powerplants. Throughout the last 70 years, the residents living near the Sizewell area became increasingly vocal of their opposition to nuclear technology being used so close to home. However, by the 1980’s, with the government proposal for the building of Sizewell B, a nuclear anxiety surfaced and became gradually intertwined with concepts of environmentalism and communal wellbeing. This blog will investigate the origins of the current anti-nuclear protests at Sizewell by exploring its history as a location of nuclear resistance. It also hopes to discover at what point these protests became linked with environmental motivations and whether this case is representative of a nationwide shift for demands for alternative energy forms.

Sizewell A was first proposed in 1955 as part of the British government’s post-war White Paper titled ‘A Programme of Nuclear Power’.^[2] This paper outlined plans for multiple nuclear power stations to be constructed across Britain, including at Sizewell. By the time of the station’s construction in 1966, Sizewell A generated the most power of any nuclear station in the world - as well as the most opinions.

The Sizewell site is mainly located in a rural farming area and is home to a rich ecosystem of vegetation and wildlife, but the 20^th Century has seen the gradual loss of these habitats, making the area ecologically vulnerable. For many years prior to the construction of the power plant, the nearby towns, notably Leiston, were dominated by one large agricultural engineering firm.^[3] The area’s economy was entirely reliant upon this industry, so when it started to decline in the 1950’s, what we see is a mostly positive reaction to Sizewell A’s proposed construction. For the residents of Leiston and the wider Suffolk County, many saw Sizewell A as a chance to improve unemployment, and some even moved to the area because of the prospects of business. Mr and Mrs Young moved to Leiston ‘in the hopes that the power station plans would go ahead’ because in the six months after its proposal ‘trade [had] improved a great deal’.^[4]

However, we can also see the small sparks of resistance to Sizewell A. Although not specifically focused on Sizewell, the public failure of the 1956 inquiry against the siting of the Magnox reactor at Calder Hall may have contributed towards the lack of opposition to Sizewell A, and perhaps the ‘widespread sense of hopelessness’ that some felt in trying to oppose.^[5] This might have led to criticisms being expressed more privately, as Joan Girling, a protestor against Sizewell B and C, recounts her father telling her that Sizewell A was a “necessary evil”.^[6] We can assume from this that his resistance was still focussed on the cultural memory of the atomic bombs that were dropped previously in 1945, as the resulting nuclear culture did hold a powerful influence over the ‘feelings and experiences’ of people afterwards.^[7]

But the important thing to note from these different perceptions of Sizewell was that they were entirely formed around practicality. The residents of Leiston were more concerned about their personal and economic livelihoods than that of their local environment’s fragility. Conceptions or concerns of the environment had not yet become a part of the language surrounding the populations perception of nuclear power. Instead, any mention of the environment was of how it was beneficial to house the powerplant: such as how ‘the sub-soil is capable of supporting heavy reactors’; the ‘vast quantities of water’ that would help to cool the reactors; the ‘coast line is stable’.^[8]

Image 1 - Sizewell A^[9]

The success of Sizewell A led the government’s Central Electricity Board to confirm the building of the UK’s first pressurised water reactor in 1980, which would be known as Sizewell B. However, this proposal was met with a considerably different reaction to that of Sizewell A. This reaction was linked to the emergence of a more vocal movement against nuclear power within British society, which became increasingly prominent in the public mind after the 1977 Windscale inquiry.^[10] But the fascinating thing here is that the public perception that nuclear energy was dangerous can be seen to have been tied to ideas of environmentalism, as protestors began to frame the dangers of nuclear technology as a threat to the environment as well.^[11]

It is important to mention though that these anti-nuclear activists were protesting at a time when the UK government was directing increasing police resources at anti-nuclear opponents to supress their dissent. Yet, this did not dissuade the Suffolk population and anti-nuclear campaigners from letting their objections be heard, as the nuclear resistance movement was nationwide and helped to gather opposition against plans to build Sizewell B.^[12] The resulting Sizewell B inquiry was one of the longest inquiries the UK had ever seen, starting in 1983 and ending in 1985, and it provided an opportunity for public scrutiny over the proposed construction.^[13] It is through this inquiry and protests against Sizewell B’s construction that we are able to see how environmentalism became increasingly part of the protester’s and government’s outlook.

On the announcement that Sizewell B was being considered for a second nuclear reactor, campaigns were formally launched by the Stop Sizewell B Association and the East Anglican Alliance Against Nuclear Power (EAAANP).^[14] Throughout the length of the inquiry, numerous protests were also organised as an attempt to lobby the government into reconsidering: with individuals brandishing banners such as ‘radioactive waste is dirty and deadly’, singing songs like “we shall overcome”, and donning skeleton costumes.^[15] The skeleton costumes are particularly interesting, as alongside the banners displaying anti-nuclear sentiments, they present an imagery of finality associated with nuclear technology; that its use will be to the detriment of all life, not just humanity’s.

One key individual who protested the construction was Hilda Murrell; a prominent member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and a skilled scholar who was devoted to environmentalism.^[16] Wanting to raise attention to the dangers of the nuclear industry, Murrell became involved in criticising the damaging ecological effects of radioactive waste and was set to present her arguments during the public inquiry, if not for her tragic death in 1984.^[17] Her activism and papers such as An Ordinary Citizen’s View of Radioactive Waste Management continued to serve as an example and help others actively challenge the government on how the reactor could severely damage the environment in the event of an accident, meltdown, or incorrect disposal of waste.

It is these examples of resistance that influenced the inquiry to consider the environmental impact that Sizewell B’s use might have. We can see this within the report of the inquiry by Sir Frank Layfield where, following objections from the Suffolk County and the wider public, he wrote that the government should ‘take into account the… environmental and safety implications of the powerplant’.^[18] Further to this, a discussion in the House of Lords considered Sir Layfield’s statement that the station would raise a risk to health and safety, but also a risk of damage to the local environment.^[19]

Regardless of this consideration, it was concluded that the disadvantages did not outweigh the potential economic benefits, and the construction of Sizewell B was completed in 1995. This understandably did not sit well with many of the protestors, nor many of the residents living around Sizewell, and many continued to petition for its decommission for years to come. Even Greenpeace decided to stage a protest, with 150 activists peacefully occupying Sizewell B for 25 minutes in October 2003 whilst dressed as Tony Blair and Homer Simpson. It was the first time Greenpeace has ever done such an occupation, and the resulting, mostly positive, media coverage highlighted a nationwide dissatisfaction towards the government’s plans for the building of new nuclear reactors, such as Sizewell C. According to a poll at the time, ‘72 percent of Brits favour[ed] renewable energy sources over new nuclear plants’.^[20]

So, what we see here, moving into the 21^st Century, is the cementing of a cultural imagination that clearly associates “nuclear” with “disaster”, primarily ecological disaster and therefore a desire to move towards greener energy production. So much so, that recent protests over the proposed construction of Sizewell C have been dominated with environmentalist language and campaigns. One simply has to look at the campaign websites of Stop Sizewell C and the Shut Down Sizewell Campaign to notice the references of the plan’s dismissal being key ‘in the fight against Climate Change’ and in saving ‘Suffolk’s Wildlife’.^[21]

Since Sizewell A’s proposal in 1955 right up to now, the Sizewell site in Suffolk has been a backdrop for anti-nuclear protests. But intriguingly, the gradual connection to environmentalism has ignited new desires to help preserve the landscape of Sizewell and perhaps facilitate the revival of the rich ecosystem that once existed in the surrounding area. The campaign against Sizewell C continues to rage on with protestors making their voices be heard at the COP26 event in Glasgow and forming a “human wall” at the proposed site.^[22] It is currently hoped that the powerplant will be replaced with renewable energy sources, but it looks to be a repeat of history, with the government determined to see it’s construction in the desire for a Carbon zero Britain. Only time will tell what will happen next.

^[1] BBC News, Protestors line beach to oppose Sizewell C nuclear plant sea defences, BBC News, 19^th September 2021, Available at: Protestors line beach to oppose Sizewell C nuclear plant sea defences - BBC News, Accessed 9/12/2021
^[2] Wall et. al., It was a new world: Building Sizewell A Nuclear Power Station, (Westminster University: The Leverhulme Trust, 2011), Pages 1-49
^[3] Glasson, J. and Chadwick, A., Life after Sizewell B Post-redundancy experiences of locally recruited construction employees, The Town Planning Review, Volume 68, Issue 3 (1997), Page 328
^[4] Special Correspondent, Largest Nuclear Power Station, The Times, 5^th April 1961, Available at: Largest Nuclear Power Station (keele.ac.uk), Accessed 6/12/2021
^[5] Hogg, J. and Brown, K., British Nuclear Mobilisation Since 1945: Social and Cultural Histories, (Routledge, 2021), Page
^[6] BBC News, The nuclear fight for Sizewell on Suffolk’s coast, BBC News, 7/7/2019, Available at: The nuclear fight for Sizewell on Suffolk's coast - BBC News, Accessed 9/12/2021
^[7] Langhamer, C., Mass observing the atom bomb: the emotional politics of August 1945, Contemporary British History, Volume 33, Issue 2 (2019), Page 220
^[8] The Times, Site of Sixth Nuclear Station, The Times, 30^th September, 1958, Available at: Site Of Sixth Nuclear Station (keele.ac.uk), Accessed 9/12/2021
^[9] John Brodrick, 'Sizewell A' (2006), available at: File:Sizewell A.jpg. John  Brodrick and Greenhouse Trust give permission for use under GNU Free Documentation License.
^[10] Chafer, T. Politics and the perception of risk: A study of the anti-nuclear movements in Britain and France, West European Politics, Volume 8, Issue 1 (1985), Page 5
^[11] Bargheer, S., Apocalypse adjourned: the rise and decline of cold war environmentalism in Germany, Environmental Politics, Volume 27, Issue 6 (2018), Pages 974-975
^[12] Chafer, T. Politics and the perception of risk: A study of the anti-nuclear movements in Britain and France, West European Politics, Volume 8, Issue 1 (1985), Page 5
^[13] Davies, R., The Sizewell B Nuclear Inquiry: An Analysis of Public Participation in Decisionmaking about Nuclear Power, Science, Technology and Human Values, Volume 9, Issue 3 (1984), Page 21
^[14] Wright, H. and Pearce, N., Electricity board confirms that it intends to build pressurized water reactors on site in Suffolk, The Times, 2^nd October 1980, Available at: Electricity board confirms that it intends to build pressurized water reactors on site in Suffolk. (keele.ac.uk), Accessed: 9/12/2021. - The EAAANP was an umbrella organisation of 30 conservation, environmental, and anti-nuclear organisations.
^[15] ITV Anglia, Protests against Sizewell B Image, in: ITV, Going Nuclear: the issue that’s divided a Suffolk community for 50 years, ITV News, 19/8/2020, Available at: Going nuclear: the issue that's divided a Suffolk community for 50 years | ITV News Anglia, Accessed: 12/12/2021; Young, D., Letter from Sizewell, The Times, 8^th March 1985, Available at: Letter from Sizewell (keele.ac.uk), Accessed 10/12/2021; See also: EJatlas, Sizewell B nuclear powerstation in Suffolk, England, The Global Atlas of Environmental Justice (2020), Available at: Sizewell B nuclear power station in Suffolk, England | EJAtlas, Accessed 10/12/2021
^[16] EJatlas, Sizewell B nuclear powerstation in Suffolk, England, The Global Atlas of Environmental Justice (2020), Accessed 10/12/2021, Available at: Sizewell B nuclear power station in Suffolk, England | EJAtlas
^[17] Ibid.
^[18] United Kingdom, Sizewell B Inquiry, (London: Parliament of the United Kingdom, 1983-1985), Available at: Sizewell B Inquiry | The National Archives, Accessed 3/12/2021
^[19] HL Deb, 2^nd March 1987, volume 485, column 457, Available at: Sizewell Power Station: Inquiry Report (Hansard, 2 March 1987) (parliament.uk), Accessed 9/12/2021
^[20] Auer, C., Greenpeace to Sizewell B: D’oh!, Bulletin of the Atomic Sciences, January/February (2003), Page 6
^[21] Theberton and Eastbridge Action Group on Sizewell, Stop Sizewell C, Available at: Stop Sizewell C - Take Action, Accessed 3/12/2021; See also: Shutdown-Sizewell, Shut Down Sizewell Campaign, Available at: Shut Down Sizewell Campaign | Tel/Fax: 01508 518796 Email: info@shutdown-sizewell.org.uk, Accessed 11/12/2021
^[22] BBC News, Protestors line beach to oppose Sizewell C nuclear plant sea defences, BBC News, 19^th September 2021, Available at: Protestors line beach to oppose Sizewell C nuclear plant sea defences - BBC News, Accessed 9/12/2021