nuclear-news

Future of Britain’s Hinkley Point Nuclear Facility is increasingly uncertain

there is growing talk in the U.K. of whether the government should cut and run from nuclear.

In a speech to the House of Commons last week, Labour MP Paul Flynn questioned whether Whitehall would have made the same decision if it knew what it knows now about the cost of nuclear.

“Nuclear power was promised as an energy source that would be too cheap to meter. It is now too expensive to generate,”

While the European public has largely turned against nuclear since the Fukushima accident in Japan in 2011, the British have been shielded by a “skilled public relations operation,”

Trouble ahead for UK’s nuclear hopes Britain’s push for new reactors is coming under fire. Politico  Sara Stefanini  25/6/15,  The next generation of reactors in the U.K. has been in the works for a decade, but now a looming challenge in the European Court of Justice attacking nuclear subsidies, growing technical problems and cost overruns are casting doubt on the idea of using nuclear to meet emissions reduction targets……..

the future of Hinkley Point C looks increasingly uncertain, as the first EPR projects in France and Finland have been hampered by delays, cost overruns and safety concerns, and as the Austrian government prepares to challenge the European Commission on its approval of the U.K.’s state aid.

Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann announced this week the government would lodge its complaint in the European Court of Justice next week; the Greens said it would be Monday. It is backed by Luxembourg, which takes over the European Council presidency next week, as well as a number of companies and cities.

Vienna opposes nuclear energy overall, on the grounds that it is expensive and environmentally dangerous. A long-time importer of nuclear power from the Czech Republic and Germany, the country decided in 2013 to ban all foreign supplies, beginning this year…….it targets the U.K.’s use of a so-called strike price, which triggers government subsidies if wholesale electricity prices fall below a certain level.

“The technology gives reason for security concerns, and cannot be considered environmentally nor socially sustainable, nor is it an economically competitive technology. It is therefore not qualified to support the energy and climate goals the EU has set,” said MEP Paul Rübig, a European People’s Party member from Austria.

The U.K.’s decision to subsidize the Hinkley project was a political one, based on “very shaky legal grounds,” added MEP Claude Turmes, a member of the Greens from Luxembourg.

“In the EU treaty, it says state aid should only be granted in exceptional cases, and Hinkley does not provide these exceptional security of supply issues, because the U.K. has other ways of ensuring its security of supply,” he said. “It has cheap alternatives, notably renewables like offshore wind, and also more interconnections. Technically, there is no emergency situation.”……

Areva is also teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, and the French government has backed EDF’s plan to buy a controlling stake in the company to keep it afloat.

But now there could be even more delays and cost overruns. French safety regulators flagged up concerns earlier this month that the steel used for the pressure vessel, which contains the reactor’s radiation, was too weak……

Meanwhile, there is growing talk in the U.K. of whether the government should cut and run from nuclear.

In a speech to the House of Commons last week, Labour MP Paul Flynn questioned whether Whitehall would have made the same decision if it knew what it knows now about the cost of nuclear.

“Nuclear power was promised as an energy source that would be too cheap to meter. It is now too expensive to generate,” said Flynn, adding that the fall in oil and gas prices since 2013 makes the strike price of £92.50/MWh twice the average rate for electricity nowadays.

While the European public has largely turned against nuclear since the Fukushima accident in Japan in 2011, the British have been shielded by a “skilled public relations operation,” Flynn added.

Renewables offer alternatives, he said, commending the government for providing funding to project that would harness energy from tides in Wales. “That is vast untapped energy — British, free, eternal and entirely predictable.”

Kalina Oroschakoff contributed to this article. http://www.politico.eu/article/nuclear-uk-hinckley-point-areva-cameron-court-justice-austria-state-aid/

June 26, 2015 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, UK