EDF Energy has formally submitted its application to build a new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point.

The firm's bid for a Development Consent Order was lodged with the national Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC) on Monday.

The IPC now has up to 28 days to decide whether or not to accept the submission.

If it does accept the application, the plans will be published and members of the public will be invited to comment on them.

If the Localism Bill is enacted in Parliament as planned, the IPC will eventually make a recommendation to the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, who will have the final say on the application.

However, a decision on the proposed new station is unlikely to be made until the end of 2012 at the earliest.

If Hinkley C is given the go-ahead, it could be up and running by 2020 and would provide enough energy for five million homes.

The site's current Hinkley Point B came into service in 1976 but its working life has been extended to 2016, and EDF Energy has signalled it plans to keep the complex going for five years beyond that date.

At the end of July, West Somerset Council gave the go ahead for EDF to carry out large-scale preliminary works at the site.

Following this week's IPC submission, council leader Cllr Tim Taylor said the authority would continue to work closely with partners at Somerset County Council and Sedgemoor District Council.

He said the council's immediate role would be to provide the IPC with comments on the adequacy of the consultation process undertaken to date by EDF.

"If the IPC accepts EDF's submission, EDF will make the documents relating to its proposal for two new nuclear reactors at Hinkley Point available to the public and councils," Cllr Taylor said.

"We anticipate that this will run to tens of thousands of pages.

"West Somerset Council remains totally committed to scrutinising any information provided by EDF and to keeping local people informed of any proposals and their potential impacts." 

Cllr Chris Morgan, the council's lead member for environment and Stogursey ward member, said it remained vital that local people's voices were heard by both EDF and the IPC.

"We have built good relationships with communities, individuals and organisations in the run up to this submission," he said.

"If the submission is accepted, we will continue to dedicate resources so that local people have a local contact.

"We remain committed to raising awareness of opportunities for all people to be involved in the processes that may follow. 

"We truly want to represent their views, not only in relation to specific impacts but also regarding the cumulative effects of the whole project that will be felt by local people in particular."

Anti-nuclear campaigners again criticised EDF's plans for Hinkley C following Monday's submission to the IPC.

A spokesman for anti-nuclear group Stop Hinkley said: "Especially after the Fukushima accident in Japan, it's irresponsible for EDF to continue to pursue its Hinkley Point proposal.

"Nuclear power is expensive and leaves a legacy of radioactive waste for future generations and is a dangerous diversion from a genuinely sustainable pathway for the UK's energy needs.

"We need to follow the German lead as soon as possible and build a clean, safe, renewable future."

Meanwhile, the Environment Agency is seeking comments on another application from EDF subsidiary NNB Generation Company Ltd.

The firm has applied for an environment permit for cooling water and liquid effluent discharges into the Severn Estuary from the site earmarked for Hinkley C.

The discharge would include cooling water from the operation of the turbine condensers of the power station and process effluents from water treatment.

The agency is already consulting on two other applications for environmental permits in relation to the proposed new power station - one relating to discharges and disposals of radioactive waste and the other for standby power supplies.

The latest consultation will run until December 15 this year and more information is available on the agency's website at http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/hinkleypoint">www.environment-agency.gov.uk/hinkleypoint.