Britain’s ambitions for a new era of nuclear power face a series of major challenges, the UK boss of the French energy giant behind Hinkley Point C has warned.
Vincent de Rivaz, chief executive of EDF Energy, this week secured Government approval for his £18bn project to build Britain’s first new nuclear plant in a generation at the Somerset site.
Ministers want Hinkley to be the first of a wave of new reactors, including EDF’s plans to lead on a second new plant at Sizewell in Suffolk and to support China’s CGN, its junior partner in Hinkley, to build its own reactor at Bradwell in Essex.
However, in an interview with The Telegraph, Mr de Rivaz said EDF faced a challenge to make Sizewell “significantly cheaper” than Hinkley, which has been criticised for its high cost.
He also said he did not yet know how EDF, which struggled to afford Hinkley, would fund the Suffolk plant. “We are not in a position to say anything about the way we are going to finance Sizewell,” he said. “We have a lot to do to deliver a lower cost and we have a lot to do to find a way to finance it. We are not yet there. What is down the road is not going to be easy. To build these two plants will not be easy.”
He also said China’s planned plant at Bradwell faced “many hurdles” to get the go-ahead and would “not be delivered before the next decade”, though he was “confident” it would eventually succeed. However, he insisted new security safeguards announced by the Government last week did not present an obstacle and the Chinese were happy with the rules…….
Peter Atherton, the analyst who has called the Hinkley deal “one of the worst ever signed”, said: “You have to recognise it’s a fabulous achievement by EDF and Vincent in particular to get it to this point.… They should make [de Rivaz] French ambassador, because he’s capable of getting the UK Government to do inexplicable things.” http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/09/17/uk-new-nuclear-plans-face-major-challenges-warns-edf-chief/
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