nuclear-news

The evidence for this change is not hard to find. The first two new reactors to be built in Europe for decades, at Flamanville in France and Olkiluoto in Finland, have suffered repeated delays and ballooning costs, with safety changes in the wake of the Fukushima disaster in Japan a key factor. Flamanville’s pricetag is almost double its original budget of €3.3bn and it is four years behind schedule.

This has cooled private sector interest in funding atomic power. Recently RWE and EON of Germany announced they were selling their Horizon joint venture, which had plans to build reactors on Anglesey and in Gloucestershire. Horizon and government officials are now in detailed talks with other potential investors, including Chinese state-owned power groups, about building the two reactors.

GDF Suez and Iberdrola of Spain are planning a reactor near Sellafield in Cumbria but a final decision on the project is still years off……

That leaves EDF, the French utility, and its partner Centrica as the only companies with firm plans to build a new nuclear plant before 2020. They are due to decide by the end of this year on whether to proceed with a facility at Hinkley Point in Somerset. But the estimated cost of each reactor keeps increasing……

The government will publish draft strike prices next year, but has promised to give developers such as EDF and Centrica temporary assurances to bridge the gap and allow them to move ahead with Hinkley Point.

The price they come up with is bound to come under intense scrutiny. Critics will see a high level as a massive subsidy for nuclear, but if it is too low EDF and Centrica could walk away.

Whatever happens, the strike price for nuclear is likely to be much higher than earlier estimates….. http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/4eafbd0a-d298-11e1-8700-00144feabdc0.html#axzz21Vo4ZRkh