A ROYAL Navy bomb squad detonated a 75-year-old 500lb bomb found in the Bristol Channel – only three miles away from Hinkley Point’s power stations.

The area was off-limits for shipping for 24 hours before the bomb was detonated on Tuesday.

A team of EDF divers, checking the seabed before the construction of Hinkley C cooling water tunnels, found the unexploded World War Two bomb on Monday off the Lilstock Range, formerly used for practice bombing by the Royal Navy.

David Eccles, EDF Energy’s head of stakeholder engagement, said the bomb was found eight metres below the surface. A 1,000-metre exclusion zone was put around the site and a Royal Navy bomb disposal unit sent from Plymouth.