NORTH Essex MP Bernard Jenkin has told protesters he remains opposed to plans for a new nuclear plant at Bradwell.

Campaigners say they are preparing for a long fight against a power station opening at Bradwell after the Government approved a £2 billion guarantee to underwrite Chinese financing of the Hinkley Point nuclear power station, in Somerset.

The move has paved the way for the “majority Chinese ownership” of a power station at Bradwell.

Mr Jenkin, who is the son of the pro-nuclear former Conservative Energy Minister Lord Jenkin, said: "My views on the possibility of a new build at Bradwell have not changed.

“There should be no new nuclear at Bradwell, unless the concerns about damage to the estuary and storage of nuclear waste on site can both be unequivocally resolved.

“There seems no way a new nuclear power station would avoid significant damage to the marine environment in the estuary.

“When the Magnox station was decommissioned, there was explosive recovery in the marine environment.

“I have been informed a new power station would take six times more flow of water than its predecessor.

“The estuary cannot supply the volume of cooling water without severely damaging the natural lifecycle of organisms in it.

“This jeopardises the ecology, our fishing industries and goes against the aim of the Marine Conservation Zone which we were all so pleased to have secured.”

Mr Jenkin added he was also concerned about suggestions high level nuclear waste would have to be secured and stored on the site for some decades after a new facility has reached the end of its operating life, before it can be safely transported.

“This raises questions about how could it be stored safely over such a long period, particularly when the site is vulnerable to sea level rise,” he said.

Mr Jenkin said he is arranging meetings with experts in nuclear power and he will be writing to the Secretary of State about his concerns over the estuary and nuclear waste storage.

Chancellor George Osborne indicated the next step after the Hinkley Point deal would be a Chinese-designed, Chinese-built nuclear plant at Bradwell.

The move sparked safety concerns, with the GMB union warning that "Chinese nuclear technology is unproven and no UK government should even consider allowing it to be used in a new nuclear power station 60 miles from London".

The Chancellor insisted any nuclear plant built in Britain would be constructed and operated to the highest safety standards.

“Safety comes first with nuclear power,” he said.

“But if we aren't building civil nuclear power stations - and let's remember, this is the country, Britain, that first came up with civil nuclear power - then we are basically giving up the future and we are not providing the electricity for our families in the future and we are not creating jobs in places like Bradwell.

“If we want places like Bradwell to have jobs, to have prosperity and great careers in the future, then we need to get behind these projects.”