ANTI-NUCLEAR campaigners are planning a massive blockade of Hinkley Point this autumn in protest at plans for C station.

Several anti-nuclear groups are uniting to blockade the nuclear power plant site on October 3.

Hinkley Point has been chosen for the gathering, described as a ‘Gandhi-style civil disobedience’, because it is the first of eight proposed UK sites for new nuclear builds.

The blockade is the first action of Stop New Nuclear – an alliance of local and national groups opposed to new nuclear stations.

Andreas Speck, of Kick Nuclear, said: “This is not just a fight about one proposed power station – if people power stops these plans at Hinkley Point, we will be stopping the whole programme dead in its tracks.”

The group has been founded by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Stop Nuclear Power Network UK, Kick Nuclear, South West Against Nuclear, Shutdown Sizewell, Sizewell Blockaders, Trident Ploughshares and Stop Hinkley.

Kate Hudson, general secretary of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, said: “While Germany and Italy are now set against nuclear power, Britain seems to be taking almost no account of the lessons that must be learnt from the ongoing catastrophe at Fukushima.”

A spokesman for EDF Energy, which is behind plans for Hinkley Point C, said: “We respect the rights of individuals to peaceful protest.

“We are also sympathetic to the pressure these events can place on the local community with whom we have strong links.

“The UK's chief nuclear inspector's interim report concluded that the UK nuclear power industry had reacted 'responsibly and appropriately' to events in Japan, 'displaying a leadership for safety and a strong safety culture'."