Citing the threat to water supplies in an area officially designated as severely water stressed, threats to coastal areas from climate change and environmental damage, the challenge is the first step in a judicial review of the planning permission. The business secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, refused the independent Planning Inspectorate to grant permission for the new nuclear reactor in Suffolk in July. Kwarteng is pushing the government’s plans to approve one new nuclear reactor a year as part of an energy strategy aimed at boosting the UK’s nuclear capacity, with the hope that by 2050 up to 25% of projected energy demand will come from it. But Sizewell C has faced stiff opposition from local campaigners and environmental groups over both its cost and environmental impact. In a letter to Kwarteng outlining their legal challenge, Together Against Sizewell C (TASC) claims the government’s license for the plant was granted illegally. Represented by Leigh Day lawyers and supported by Friends of the Earth, the group says there was a failure to assess the impact of the project as a whole, ignoring the issue of whether a permanent water supply could be ensured, a failure to assess the environmental effects of this project and the suggestion that the site would be clean of nuclear material by 2140, which was not borne out by evidence that high-level waste would have to be stored on site until a much later date. The Planning Inspectorate had rejected the plan saying that “unless the outstanding water strategy can be resolved and sufficient information is provided to enable the Secretary of State to fulfill his obligations under the Habitats Regulations, the case of issuing a development consent order for the application is not distinguished”. Proposed £20bn Sizewell C nuclear power plant. Campaign groups say there is a failure to assess the impact of the project as a whole and its environmental impact. Photo: EDF Pete Wilkinson, chairman of TASC, said: “The case against Sizewell C is overwhelming, as it has been carefully documented throughout the investigation stage and has been judged by the planning inspector to have merit. “To even build a £20bn nuclear power station without first securing a water supply is a measure of this government’s commitment to nuclear power and its panic over progress towards an energy policy that is both impossible and inappropriate about the challenges of the 21st century we face”. The risk to UK nuclear facilities from climate change has been outlined by Dr Paul Dorfman, an academic at the Science Policy Research Unit at the University of Sussex and chair of the Nuclear Advisory Group. It warns that the UK’s offshore nuclear facilities are at the forefront of climate collapse and some may have to be abandoned in the face of the threat. Dorfman said: “It is clear that the Suffolk coast from the proposed Sizewell C nuclear power station is fragile, vulnerable to erosion and stormy weather. It appears that the site will be almost completely cut off by floodwaters at least once a year and much sooner than the models predict.” Sizewell C is expected to cost £20bn and will be paid for by a surcharge on customers’ energy bills as well as £1.7bn of taxpayers’ money. Nuclear waste disposal experts advising the government say no new nuclear power plants should be built until a permanent disposal site is in place. However, a site for a permanent waste facility has yet to be identified and is unlikely to be ready until the late 2040s at the earliest, if there is agreement on where it should be placed. Rowan Smith, the solicitor representing TASC, said: “We are proud to represent TASC in the local community’s ongoing fight to help protect Suffolk’s cultural coast and wildlife sites. Our client is understandably shocked that the Secretary of State went against the considered and reasoned view of the independent planning inspectorate and granted development permission in a potentially legally flawed manner. TASC has very real concerns that the environmental impacts of Sizewell C have not been properly assessed. If the Secretary of State does not see the error of his ways, then we intend to do everything we can to bring this to the attention of the court.” The government said when granting the license for Sizewell C that a very substantial and urgent need to build the plant outweighed the environmental damage. EDF partnered with Chinese state nuclear specialist CGN on the first phase of the project. However, the UK government is keen to lower the CGN due to concerns about China’s involvement in sensitive assets. Boris Johnson’s government has already committed £100m of funding this year to support its growth. Barclays bankers have been hired to secure fresh financial backing for the project alongside EDF and the UK government. This article was amended on 8 August 2022. Dr Paul Dorfman is based at the University of Sussex. he is not a professor at University College London, as an earlier version said.