00:00Power stations have operated around the Severn Estuary for decades using its waters to cool
00:07steam turbines but Hinkley Point C will be the first to have any measures to protect fish. In
00:14fact it will have more fish protection measures than any other power station in the world. First
00:20the four cooling water intake heads that sit on the seabed are designed so that fish can swim
00:25away even if they get as close as two meters. Next a fish return system sends fish back to the sea if
00:33they get inside the cooling pipes and even though the remaining impact on fish is very small there's
00:40a third system it uses sound to make fish swim away. It's been very hard to find a system that works
00:47without needing divers to risk their lives in the dangerous tidal waters behind me. Now a British
00:53company from here in the southwest has found a way to solve the problem using ultrasound. The initial
01:00high frequency system is primarily aimed at shad but we're also developing lower frequency acoustic
01:07systems self-powered again so no sort of diver intervention in terms of maintenance etc required
01:14so these other systems are aimed at other fish species such as bass, salmonids, eels, cod etc.
01:23We're developing the acoustic systems. Swansea University are leading on all the testing.
01:29The early results are very encouraging at the moment. The tagfish appear to be
01:34staying 60 to 70 meters away from the heads with the ADD on but they're still approaching the other
01:40heads so it appears reasonably clear at the moment the devices are working.
01:45This success is good news for fish and for communities and farmers up and down the severn because the
01:55system works even better than we'd hoped it means we shouldn't have to create 900 acres of salt marsh as
02:02environmental compensation and it's good news for the power station that will generate the reliable
02:07clean electricity that the country needs.
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