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Hinkley Point C nuclear power plan – a Titanic folly

Why Hinkley Point is a nuclear folly of Titanic proportions https://www.newscientist.com/article/2099287-why-hinkley-point-is-a-nuclear-folly-of-titanic-proportions/ The French firm EDF has approved plans for a massive nuclear reactor in the UK, but the UK government is hesitating. Let’s hope it scuppers the project, says Michael Le Page, 26 July 17, It feels like watching Titanic. Despite numerous warnings of enormous icebergs ahead, French company EDF yesterday signalled full steam ahead for the plan to build a huge nuclear power plant at Hinkley Point in the UK. No sooner had it done so than the ship hit an iceberg.

The UK was expected to sign the contract for Hinkley within days of EDF giving the go-ahead. The champagne was already on ice. But the new government surprised everyone by instead saying it will review the project by September. What’s not yet clear is whether this is a minor dent in the hull of RMS Hinkley, or a gaping hole that could sink it.

The Hinkley plant is important for many reasons. For starters, it’s a key part of the UK’s plans to cut greenhouse emissions, meant to supply a whopping 7 per cent of the country’s electricity. If completed, it will be the UK’s first new nuclear plant for decades, the most expensive built anywhere and the biggest construction project in Europe, creating tens of thousands of jobs.

It is not clear why the UK government is hesitating. Is Hinkley now seen as a trump card in the Brexit negotiations with France? Many analysts, however, say things have changed since Hinkley was first planned. The UK had to agree to pay a very high price for Hinkley’s electricity. Since then, the price of renewables has plummeted, making it look like a very bad deal for the UK.

Even if the UK signs the contract in September after the review is complete, the megaproject’s future looks doubtful. There are huge financial, legal, technical and safety-related icebergs lurking in the seas ahead.

Behind schedule

One reason why is that the two reactors planned for Hinkley are based on a new design. The EPR design is supposed to be safer and more efficient, but it has proved so difficult to construct that not one has yet been completed.

EDF started building the first EPR, at Olkiluoto in Finland, in 2005. It was supposed to start up in 2009. Work on the second, at Flamanville in France, began in 2007 and was due to be finished in 2012. Another two EPRs are being built in Taishan, China. All four projects are years behind schedule and have cost billions more than expected.

Worse still, weak spots have been found in the steel reactor core at Flamanville. If it has to be replaced, the still incomplete plant would have to be largely dismantled to replace it, at immense cost to EDF. And that’s not all. Earlier this year, it was reported that one of the companies supplying components to EDF had falsified safety certificates.

There are also worries about the fact that a state-owned Chinese company will be supplying some of the parts and workers for the project. The UK’s intelligence agencies are said to be concerned that a “back door” could be built into the control systems, allowing China to shut down the plant if it wanted to.

Last but not least, there are various legal challenges pending. The Austrian government, for instance, is appealing against the European Commission’s decision to approve state aid for the project, saying it breaches European laws. Meanwhile, French authorities are investigating possible financial misreporting by EDF.

So should the new UK government let RMS Hinkley sail on towards disaster, or scupper it now? The choice seems clear.

July 26, 2017 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | general