Plans to build a dry fuel store at Sizewell B power station on the north Suffolk coast have reached the next round of the planning process.

Planning permission for the store was granted in July 2011 and made subject to a number of planning conditions which have to be met before work can begin to build it.

As the project is beginning to take shape, EDF Energy has submitted information to update Suffolk Coastal District Council on the work it has carried out during the last 10 months to meet the planning conditions.

This includes providing more detailed information on the layout and design, landscaping, construction management and drainage.

In the document submitted to Suffolk Coastal District Council, EDF Energy has highlighted that there will be an increase in the amount of HGV traffic expected to be travelling to and from the site.

Originally, it was estimated there would be just less than 3,000 vehicle movements during construction. This has now increased to more than 6,000.

Jim Crawford, station director at Sizewell B said: We have carried out detailed investigative ground surveys on the site which revealed previously unidentified buried concrete waste, dating back to the construction of both power stations

'This means the requirements for building the dry fuel store have changed, as there is now more material to remove from the site and more concrete required to be brought in as infill for the foundation.'

EDF Energy plans to extend the construction period from 12 months to 24 months – meaning, on average, the number of HGV movements will increase from 11 to 14 per day.

The company currently working to find ways reduce the HGV movements as much as possible. such as crushing the buried concrete on site and reusing it as infill for the foundations.

It is hoped the construction of the dry fuel store will begin in the summer of 2013.

Currently, all of Sizewell B's spent fuel is kept within a fuel storage pond, but this will reach its capacity in 2015 - creating the need for the new store, which is designed to safely house Sizewell B's spent fuel assemblies after they have been sealed within large concrete casks