Campaigners are calling on the government to prohibit energy giant EDF from dumping contaminated mud in the Bristol Channel and Severn Estuary.

They say mud from the new Hinkley power station development is 'a risk to human health, threatens protected marine habitats and damages a treasure of Britain’s natural world'.

EDF says all waste from the site is controlled and regulated to 'ensure the environment and public are protected'.

But Save the Severn, organised by a collaborative group of scientists and environmental activists, is urging people to get behind its campaign to halt further waste - including chemical and radioactive contaminants - getting dumped in an international marine protected area near Portishead.

Campaigners will also challenge the legality of a license granted by the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) to EDF for dumping waste in March, when they will present a legal challenge against the company at a judicial review.

The group says waste materials from the construction of EDF's Hinkley Point C nuclear plant near the Quantock Hills will 'destroy' the estuary's ecology, and 'threaten the health' of communities who use it.

Adding, radioactive waste materials could spread along the coast forced by tidal currents and spray - this will see it get deposited on mud banks and beaches.

Campaigners will demand the energy giant should 'meet legal requirements', and adopt a 'safe and effective' disposal plan that is currently 'economically and morally unjustifiable in so many ways'.

The challenge comes after EDF dumped waste materials near Cardiff in 2018 despite fierce opposition.

Weston Mercury: The Severn Estuary. Picture: John Christopher iwitness24.The Severn Estuary. Picture: John Christopher iwitness24. (Image: (c) copyright newzulu.com)

A spokesperson for the group said: "Elevated levels of Caesium -137 and Americium -241 have been detected on beaches around Cardiff following the dumping four years ago - Save the Severn wants to stop the same mistakes being made again.

"Thousands of tonnes have been dumped already, and much more material is still to be dredged and dumped.

"We do not know how much waste may become airborne - potentially reaching homes and farmland - because the necessary assessments haven’t been done.

"EDF’s waste dumping activities are connected with the development of a water cooling system for the new power station which has been banned in other countries.

"By drawing seawater into a seven metre tunnel, billions of fish will also be massacred each year - these will include eels, for which the Severn is an internationally important breeding ground."

An EDF spokesperson said: "All activities on our sites are strictly controlled and regulated by a number of statutory bodies to ensure the environment and public are protected.

"We have undertaken a number of assessments which concluded the activities pose no threat to human health or the environment."

To sign the petition, visit the change.org website here.

To donate to help fund the legal challenge, visit crowdjustice here.