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BEEMS programme

The British Energy Estuarine and Marine Studies (BEEMS) programme is an integrated suite of marine environmental studies funded by EDF Energy (formerly British Energy) to provide authoritative scientific information on the marine and transitional waters in the vicinity of potential new-build nuclear power stations in the UK.

This information is being used to underpin evidence-based scientific positions on the key local marine environmental issues relating to the operation of new-build nuclear power stations. 

As a multi-disciplinary scientific research/consultancy centre - specialising in fisheries science and management and marine monitoring and assessment - we are co-ordinating the BEEMS scientific programme, in partnership with other scientific institutes. We are also working on the programme on a sub-contract basis.

The BEEMS programme is augmented by two independent panels of experts:

• The first has been instituted to review the scientific programme in relation to regulatory and legislative requirements, at present and in the future. That panel comprises a number of renowned estuarine and coastal biology experts who together have extensive experience of biological and environmental analyses, as well as interests in marine management and policy.
• The second panel, one working largely independently of the main programme, comprises experts in the field of climate-change prediction, convened to provide expert judgement based on national and international understanding, on likely climate-change-induced scenarios around the UK of relevance to decision-making on the nuclear-build process.

The BEEMS scientific programme includes:

• mapping and surveying marine and inter-tidal habitats
• the quantification of marine flora and fauna
• assessments of the entrainment and impingement of marine organisms in power station in-takes
• assessments of coastal geomorphology
• measurements of waves, tides and currents
• assessment of water quality, with reference to current and possible future regulatory frameworks
• modelling of estuarine and coastal hydrography (including thermal plumes from power station outfalls)
• consideration of climate-change issues
• development of risk and decision-analysis frameworks.

Some of the required effort is targeted at compiling, assimilating and synthesising existing knowledge or data.

BEEMS is an excellent example of Cefas' capability in programme management: A complex scientific programme with many stakeholders has been implemented successfully, and continues to deliver the quality of science necessary to provide input to the new nuclear build programme.