nuclear-news

Credibility of nuclear corporation EDF taking a beating over Hinkley Nuclear project shemozzle

EDF’s Credibility Hangs on Hinkley Point, U.K. Minister Says, Bloomberg  Jessica Shankleman Jess_Shankleman  , 18 May 16 

• Plant may be ‘scuppered’ by Austrian challenge, Leadsom says
• U.K. waiting for EDF’s final decision on whether to invest
• Electricite de France SA may lose its credibility as one of the world’s top nuclear-power developers if it fails to build two new reactors on England’s southwest coast, a U.K. energy minister said.

  EDF has delayed until September its final investment decision on Hinkley Point C, the world’s most expensive power station, marking a setback for a project that was originally due to be completed in 2017. The latest date for commissioning is 2025, at which point it may provide 7 percent of the country’s power.

  “A huge amount of EDF’s credibility as a nuclear developer will rely on this deal getting done,” Andrea Leadsom, a junior minister at the Department of Energy and Climate Change, told reporters at an event in London on Tuesday where she was campaigning for the U.K. to leave the European Union.

• The U.K. will have to “fight quite hard” to ensure the 24.5 billion pound ($35.5 billion) power plant isn’t blocked by a legal challenge from Austria, which objects to the U.K. government’s proposed subsidies for Hinkley, she said. “Being a member of the EU could scupper the deal because of the state aid challenge from Austria.”

  Leadsom’s comments are in line with those of EDF Chief Executive Officer Jean-Bernard Levy, who said last week that the Hinkley Point investment is “indispensable.” Without the project, “we wouldn’t have any more credibility to access the market” for new atomic plants, he told shareholders……http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-05-17/edf-s-credibility-hangs-on-hinkley-point-u-k-minister-says

May 18, 2016 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | general