Our role

The Environment Agency is responsible for regulating environmental protection at nuclear sites, ensuring that people and the environment are properly protected.

NNB Generation Company (HPC) Ltd needs environmental permits from us to cover the work and the controls that it needs to put into place for construction, commissioning, operation and decommissioning of any new power station.

What’s happening now?

Hinkley Point C is applying for a variation (change) to an environmental permit it holds for work on its construction site near Bridgwater, Somerset.

The company wants to change existing, and add new, discharges of trade effluent to the construction water discharge activity permit. These are related to testing of the site’s fire hydrant system and cold commissioning activities.

Application information

Application reference number: EPR/JP3122GM/V013
Regulated facility type: Water management zones and effluent treatment units serving the Hinkley Point C (HPC) construction site.
Regulated facility address:

Hinkley Point C (HPC) construction site, Wick Moor Drove, near Bridgwater, Somerset, TA5 1UD

Consultation date: 28 October – 30 November 2025

Public consultations – notification and how to get involved

We publish information about the construction site permit applications and the supporting documents on our consultation website and GOV.UK.

The reports and applications are hosted on the consultation page in the ‘Related’ documents section at the bottom of each page. We provide a summary in ‘About this consultation’. The company also provides a ‘non technical summary’ as part of its application.

• Our consultation website
• Public notices on GOV.UK – You can search by postcode for Hinkley Point C permit applications ‘TA5 1UD’
• View a list of applications that have been submitted for a licence to abstract or impound water on GOV.UK.
• Flood risk activity permit application notices are also listed for comment on GOV.UK.

We also advertise through a public notice in the Bridgwater Mercury / Burnham & Highbridge Weekly News.

You can comment on the consultation website or by email or post.

What permits are needed on a construction site?

Construction phase permitted activities may include:

• site investigation works such as drilling boreholes
• discharging construction trade effluents and/or site drainage to either ground or surface waters, or the sea
• taking water from the ground or a surface watercourse for use in construction
• combustion emissions from static and mobile diesel electricity generators
• dewatering from excavations – and associated discharges
• works affecting watercourses, rivers and flood defences
• waste management

Where appropriate, we will consult on the applications for these permits. We will make our decision once we have considered the comments we receive in the consultation.

Construction activities are not unique to nuclear developments and are time limited, so we will deal with these permit applications as we would for other types of construction sites. This is a proportionate approach that will help us exercise the best regulatory control on rapidly changing construction activities.

These consultations do not relate to the UK EPR™ design. They are not about the need for nuclear power, UK energy policy, the siting of nuclear power stations, nor the safety and security of the design.

Please contact our Permitting and Support Centre on 03708 506 506 if you need printed versions of the documents.

The Environment Agency will normally put any comments it receives on the public register. This includes your name but not your personal contact details. Please tell us if you do not want your response to be public.

Next steps

After the consultations end, we’ll complete our determination, including carefully considering all comments made during the consultations. We must decide whether to grant or refuse the applications. If we grant them, we must decide what conditions to include in the permits.
Read our public participation statement.