Britain’s nuclear gamble will cost every UK family an extra £1,000

The £18bn Hinkley gamble: Nuclear deal will cost every UK family an extra £1,000 as May signs off on the plans to protect Britain’s national security

Prime Minister approved plans after restricting influence of Chinese state
Britain will guarantee EDF £92.50 per megawatt hour, up on current market price of £38.91
Tory MP Zac Goldsmith said the plant would generate ‘most expensive energy in the history of energy generation’

By JASON GROVES DEPUTY POLITICAL EDITOR FOR THE DAILY MAIL, 16 Sept 16

……….ministers faced criticism as it emerged they had failed to reduce massive subsidies for French firm EDF, which is building the Hinkley plant, and its Chinese partners.Britain has agreed to guarantee EDF a price of £92.50 per megawatt hour of electricity, or £89.50 if another scheme at Sizewell, Suffolk, goes ahead. The current market price for a megawatt hour is just £38.91.

Electricity bill-payers will be forced to make up the difference once the plant in Somerset comes on stream in the 2020s.

The National Audit Office has warned these subsidies will add almost £30billion to electricity bills over the project’s lifetime. That is an extra £30 for the average annual bill over 35 years – totalling more than £1,000 per household.

Last night Tory MP Zac Goldsmith said by the end of the project ‘this new power plant will have generated the most expensive energy in the history of energy generation’.

And former Tory chancellor Lord Lawson said every independent energy expert believed the Hinkley project was a ‘thoroughly lousy deal’. He said EDF was ‘hopelessly behind schedule’ on similar plants in France and Finland and called on ministers to pull the plug if it encountered similar problems here……..

…..China indicated it will press ahead with funding another nuclear reactor at Sizewell, as well as pursuing plans to build and operate a new nuclear plant at Bradwell in Essex. Chinese state-owned firm CGN, which has a one-third stake in Hinkley, said it was ‘delighted’ with the decision.

……….Costs for Flamanville, situated on the Normandy coast, have exploded from an estimated €3.5billion (£2.97billion) to €8.5billion (£7.2billion). Even worse, there are concerns that it may never be finished.

Last year, the French nuclear safety authority found weaknesses in the steel used to construct the pressure vessel at the heart of the reactor. These faults could mean that either the plant would have to operate at a much-reduced capacity, or the reactor would have to be rebuilt – or worse abandoned.

In extremis, if the vessel fails critics fear it could lead to a catastrophic nuclear accident on the scale of the Chernobyl disaster.

It is the same reactor design EDF plans to use for Hinkley, a so-called European Pressurized Reactor (EPR). This is similar to the Sizewell nuclear power station on the Suffolk coast, but on a larger scale and with extra safety features.

However, the British government has agreed to pay EDF much, much more for the electricity the Hinkley version would produce than the French government has for the electricity from Flamanville.

Controversially, the Cameron government guaranteed EDF a fixed price of £92.50 per megawatt hour over a period of 35 years, whereas EDF will charge the French government only €64 (£54) per megawatt hour for the electricity it hopes to produce in Normandy……….. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3791895/The-18bn-Hinkley-gamble-nuclear-deal-cost-UK-family-extra-1-000-signs-plans-protect-Britain-s-national-security.html

September 17, 2016 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, UK

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