nuclear-news

EDF, France’s state-owned nuclear company now in a fatal trap, as Hinkley Point C costs soar

Hinkley Point: endless setbacks at nuclear plant highlight political choice to destroy EDF

On January 22nd, state-owned French utilities group
EDF announced new delays in the construction of two EPR nuclear reactors at
the British plant of Hinkley Point. Originally planned to enter service in
2024, the first of the two reactors is now expected to be, at best,
operational in 2029, or possibly “2030 or 2031”.

Seven years after the project was launched, all the warnings against EDF’s involvement in it
made by the group’s staff have proved be right, writes Mediapart
economics correspondent Martine Orange in this op-ed article.

The state-owned group now finds itself in a fatal trap created by Emmanuel
Macron. Following the epic delays with the Olkiluoto nuclear power plant in
Finland, those of Flamanville in France, and those of Taishan in China, the
under-construction plant of Hinkley Point C in south-west England has now
joined the long story of an industrial catastrophe which is the third
generation EPR (pressurised water reactor) first designed by Areva, once
France’s nuclear energy giant.

 Mediapart 28th Jan 2024

https://www.mediapart.fr/en/journal/france/280124/hinkley-point-endless-setbacks-nuclear-plant-highlight-political-choice-destroy-edf

January 31, 2024 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, France, politics