Britain’s blank cheque for massive new nuclear project, that will soon be obsolete anyway

We’ve signed a blank cheque for nuclear power with Hinkley Point , Telegraph, JEREMY WARNER, 26 July 16 “…….. Barring a surprise change of heart, which is not altogether impossible after the latest boardroom bust-up, they are to plough ahead regardless – regardless that is of the solvency risk it poses to EDF, already struggling with the finance for nuclear renewal in France, regardless of the latest EDF resignation, regardless of the ever escalating cost, estimated at £18bn and rising the last time I looked, regardless of the untested technology being adopted, regardless of the fact that it commits Britain to a Chinese solution to other nuclear reactors elsewhere in Britain, together with the accompanying security risk, and most important of all, regardless of spiralling subsidy costs, including a strike price, inflation-proofed for thirty five years, for output which is more than double the current going rate for wholesale electricity…….

The bottom line is far too big a price is being paid for an untried technology which will very likely be obsolete before the plant is even completed.

To get Hinkley built, ministers have had to agree an ever-lengthening and more humiliating list of concessions, including, almost unbelievably, virtually penalty free scope for contract over-runs of up to eight years beyond the planned completion date of 2025. With Hinkley Point scheduled to provide Britain with 7 per cent of its electricity needs, any such delay would leave consumers disastrously exposed to Britain’s looming energy shortfall, as existing nuclear and coal fired plants come to the end of their natural lives.

In any case, a project of always questionable value to the UK economy has been left looking like a total white elephant by the collapse in the price of fossil fuels. The National Audit Office recently estimated that over the lifetime of the project, the extra cost to consumers of Hinkley’s output had risen from an already punishing £6.1bn when the strike price was originally agreed three years ago,to a jaw-dropping £29.7bn today. Together with other policies designed to deliver a low carbon future, Hinkley’s costs will add approximately £230 a year to the average household electricity bill, according to Government estimates……..

It is no accident that Hinkley’s two backers, France’s EDF and China’s General Nuclear Power Corporation, are both creatures of the state, for the upfront costs of “grand projets” like Hinkley are so large and high risk that the private sector struggles to finance them. France and China will be charging us through the nose for the privilege. ….

July 29, 2016 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | general

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