Barry White
Bosses at Hinkley Point C in Somerset have blamed pandemic disruption after admitting the new nuclear power station will start operating a year later than planned and will cost an extra £3bn according to press reports. EDF the French state owned energy company said the first reactor unit at the Somerset site is now scheduled to start operating in June 2027, a year later than planned, with costs estimated between £25bn and £26bn. They say that this would not affect the cost to British consumers or taxpayers, costs being met by EDF and China’s CGN, the junior partner in the project.
In 2007, the then EDF chief Vincent de Rivaz predicted that by Christmas in 2017, turkeys would be cooked using atomic power from new reactors at Hinkley. When the project was finally given the green light in 2016, it was estimated to cost £18bn.
EDF hopes to construct another nuclear plant at Sizewell C in Suffolk using the same technology as at Hinkley Point at a cost of £20bn. Last week, a decision on whether to grant the plant planning permission due this month was delayed until 8 July following a written statement by Parliamentary Under-Secretary for small business Paul Scully MP.
Alison Downes of Suffolk campaign group Stop Sizewell C said: “Sizewell C is risky, expensive and in no one’s interest except EDF’s.”
Read the full story at: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/may/20/hinkley-point-c-nuclear-power-station-edf-delayed-covid-costs-rise
More about Sizewell C at: https://www.constructionnews.co.uk/civils/sizewell-c-decision-pushed-back-16-05-2022/
