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UPDATE ON THE BANKRUPTCY OF USNC – Ultra Safe Nuclear.

Paul Richards 2 April 2025

In March 2025, NANO Nuclear Energy Inc. acquired the major assets of the bankrupt Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation (USNC), including microreactor technology and advanced nuclear fuel, renaming the Micro Modular Reactor (MMR) Energy System as the KRONOS MMR.

Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation (USNC) – Stakeholder Loss Breakdown

1] Estimated Liabilities vs. Assets

Liabilities: $50M – $100M

Assets: $10M – $50M

2] Asset Fire Sale Proceeds

Standard Nuclear, Inc. (Initial Offer – Stalking Horse Bid): $28M (for selected assets)

NANO Nuclear Energy Inc. (MMR® System & IP): $8.5M

Other minor asset liquidations (estimated): $5M

3] Total Asset Sale Revenue

Estimated total recovery: ~$41.5M

4] Estimated Stakeholder Losses

Uncovered Liabilities [after asset sales]: $8.5M – $58.5M

Equity Investors [USNC shareholders]: Likely 100% loss

Creditors [unsecured debt holders]: Majority loss expected

Government Grants & Subsidies: Unrecoverable investments

5] Key Observations

USNC’s core intellectual property, including its Micro Modular Reactor (MMR®) system, was sold at a deep discount to NANO Nuclear Energy Inc. ($8.5M).

Despite an initial $28M stalking horse bid, the final liquidation resulted in a total sale value well below USNC’s peak valuation.

Significant capital losses for early investors, especially venture capital firms and institutional stakeholders.

This reflects a fire-sale scenario, where strategic assets were sold at fractions of their development costs due to financial distress.

April 4, 2025 Posted by | business and costs, USA | Leave a comment

Buyer sought for nuclear energy developer as it collapses into administration

By Adam Beech, 31 Mar 2025, https://www.insidermedia.com/news/midlands/buyer-sought-for-nuclear-energy-developer-as-it-collapses-into-administration

A nuclear energy developer based in the West Midlands has been placed into administration, with a buyer now sought. 

Jonathan Amor and Richard Oddy of Azets were appointed as administrators of Moltex Energy Ltd on 17 March following “the failure to achieve the majority shareholder consent to new investments” or “the sale of its assets”. 

While the company is in administration, the subsidiary undertakings of Moltex Energy Canada Inc and MoltexFLEX Limited will continue to trade as usual and are unaffected.

The administrators intend to market the business and assets for sale, including the intellectual property and shareholdings of the subsidiary operations. 

The intention is to seek an acquirer that is “well-positioned and suitably funded to develop the technology interests of the company further for the benefit of all stakeholders”.

April 3, 2025 Posted by | business and costs | Leave a comment

UK Treasury confident Sizewell C nuclear power investors will soon be‘teed up’ – crunch time for Sizewell.

 Ministers will decide whether to proceed with delayed
Suffolk scheme in June spending review. A senior Treasury minister has said
he is confident private financing for the Sizewell C nuclear power station
will be “teed up” in time for a final investment decision in June over
whether to proceed with the delayed project.

Darren Jones, chief secretary
to the Treasury, told the Financial Times that the crunch point for the
planned project in Suffolk was coming in just 10 weeks, at the time of the
government’s three-year spending review. “We have to make the final
investment decision [FID] which we will do at the spending review,” he
said. “FID will be taken in June.” Jones added: “You wouldn’t take
FID unless you’ve got all of your investors teed up. We will do.”

The UK government and French energy group EDF, the initial backers of Sizewell
C, have been trying to raise billions of pounds from investors and had
previously hoped to reach a final decision on investment last year. But the
process has dragged on and the price tag has soared since its £20bn
estimate given as recently as 2020.

Government officials and industry
executives expect Sizewell C will get billions of pounds of funding from
British taxpayers alongside investment from sovereign wealth funds and
institutional investors. The government has been negotiating with investors
including Centrica, Emirates Nuclear Energy Company, Amber Infrastructure
Group and Schroders Greencoat. They may not invest and ministers could yet
balk at the huge costs of the project. But Jones said the government had
already released a couple of billion pounds for the current year for
enabling works at the site.

 FT 1st April 2025, https://www.ft.com/content/4a889ad7-6d41-47a9-a946-c2535ae2aaa6

April 3, 2025 Posted by | business and costs, UK | Leave a comment

‘Greedy landlords are cashing in and forcing us out of town’.

 The construction of the Sizewell C nuclear power plant on the Suffolk
coast is a key part of the government’s growth programme. But some locals
fear being forced out, accusing landlords of cashing in on a jobs boom by
evicting tenants and raising rents to unaffordable levels. The plant is due
to open in 2031, and although a final investment decision has not yet been
made, groundwork is already well under way.

The construction project will
require a predicted workforce of 7,900, of which about two-thirds will be
from outside the area. About 2,400 workers will be based on site with 500
others living at the former Pontins holiday park at Pakefield, near
Lowestoft. The remaining contractors, however, will have to move into
properties in or around the town of Leiston – population 5,508 – where some
rents have doubled to more than £3,000 a month.

 BBC 31st March 2025,
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce98ljn1gzno

April 1, 2025 Posted by | business and costs, UK | Leave a comment

Why the nuclear renaissance is far from certain.

NEW RESEARCH: A new report from consultancy ICF found a nuclear
renaissance was “far from certain”, citing doubts over economic
viability, technological scalability and long timelines. SMRs are the most
expensive source.

 FT 28th March 2025, https://www.ft.com/content/82d77aa5-c4cc-47b6-833a-0a1f2c188b0c

March 30, 2025 Posted by | business and costs | Leave a comment

UK Government investment continues squeeze on EDF’s share of Sizewell C

 By Tom Pashby

EDF’s stake in Sizewell C has decreased by a further 1.6% following investment by the UK government using its Devex (development expenditure) subsidy scheme.  Two days ago NCE reported EDF’s share had dropped to
16.2%. This has now dropped a further 1.6%

 New Civil Engineer 27th March 2025, https://www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/uk-government-investment-continues-squeeze-on-edfs-share-of-sizewell-c-27-03-2025/

March 29, 2025 Posted by | business and costs | Leave a comment

EDF reduces stake in Sizewell C as boss sacked

the sacking raises “further fundamental questions about the wisdom of proceeding with the Sizewell C ‘Replica’ project of Hinkley Point C in which EDF is set to be deeply involved”

“Clearly Sizewell C could not reach a Final Investment Decision without taxpayers shouldering the bulk of the project’s massive cost – a hugely controversial choice given that the Chancellor is currently scrabbling around to save as much money as possible.“

25 Mar, 2025 By To s-sacked-25-03-2025/ https://www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/edf-reduces-stake-in-sizewell-c-as-boss-sacked-25-03-2025/

EDF’s ownership of Sizewell C has decreased to 16.2% and the UK government’s stake increased to 83.8%. Meanwhile, the French company’s chief executive has been axed and its financial stability has been called into question.

The UK’s flagship gigawatt-scale new nuclear projects under construction – Hinkley Point C in Somerset and Sizewell C in Suffolk – are both subject to intense scrutiny as costs rise and timelines slip.

Hinkley Point C is late and over budget, and Sizewell C is awaiting its delayed final investment decision (FID) which is scheduled to be made at the Spending Review on 11 June. The FID will reveal the final determination of who will fund the project and how. The government has already invested several billion pounds in developing it.

Hinkley Point C’s costs rose from around £25bn in 2015 to up to £34bn in 2024, and Sizewell C is projected to cost £40bn – double what it was estimated by EDF and the UK Government to cost in 2020. However, the Treasury disputes this latter figure.

EDF Sizewell C ownership stake reduced

On 24 February 2024, NCE reported that EDF was appearing to scale back its proposed ownership ambitions of Sizewell C.

EDF’s 2024 Annual results document laid out its contribution to the power plant, which is “subject to some conditions, including […] a share in ownership of the project of 10 to 19.99%, including a cap on financial exposure in value.” It also requires “a return on capital expected by EDF as an investor in line with market return for this type of assets, risk allocation profile and its investment policy.”

It is understood that the reason for selecting 19.99% rather than 20% is because a company buying 20% would have to set up a subsidiary entity to take the ownership.

Credit ratings agency Fitch Ratings announced in a ‘Rating Action Commentary’ on 21 March 2025 that the Sizewell C’s owners – the UK Government and EDF – had changed their ownership stakes.

EDF previously confirmed in its 2024 half year results that Sizewell C is owned 76.1% by the UK Government and 23.9% by EDF.

Fitch’s announcement said: “As of end-2024, the project was owned 83.8% by the UK  government and 16.2% by EDF, down from 49.4% at end-2023.”

This marks a fresh drop in EDF’s ownership by 7.7 percentage points.

The decrease comes after French public spending watchdog Cour des comptes said EDF should scale back involvement in UK nuclear projects.

Macron sacks EDF chief and funds EDF reactors

In France, where the government has political control of the entirely state-owned EDF (Électricité de France), Macron fired the company’s chief executive Luc Rémont.

The UK’s Daily Telegraph linked Rémont’s ousting to EDF’s planned electricity price hikes for French industrial customers, of which Macron had promised to “take back control”.

Adding further pressure to EDF’s leadership, French building materials company Saint-Gobain chairman and chief executive officer Benoit Bazin, speaking to French business news channel BFM Business, accused EDF of “giving the middle finger to French industry”.

It has also been reported that the French state has agreed to issue a single subsidised loan “covering at least half the construction costs of six nuclear reactors”, according to the president’s office. It is understood that the six reactors are at the pairs at Penly, Gravelines and Bugey in France.

Former energy secretary reacts to ‘extremely concerning’ developments‘.

Backbench Conservative peer Lord Howell of Guildford reacted to the news. Howell was energy secretary in Margaret Thatcher’s government which supported the construction of nuclear power plants.

He described the reduced stake in Sizewell C as “one more development in growing concern about EDF’s capacity or ability to continue with Hinkley Point C project or take a large (20%+) position in the Sizewell C proposed project.”

Reflecting on the sacking of the EDF boss, he said this is “An extremely worrying development.”

He went on to say the sacking raises “further fundamental questions about the wisdom of proceeding with the Sizewell C ‘Replica’ project of Hinkley Point C in which EDF is set to be deeply involved”

Anti-Sizewell C groups say ‘alarm bells should be ringing’

Stop Sizewell C executive director Alison Downes said: “EDF has not contributed a single penny financially to Sizewell C for well over a year now, and is under growing pressure in France, not only having lost its boss but to scale back its international commitments across the board.

“Clearly Sizewell C could not reach a Final Investment Decision without taxpayers shouldering the bulk of the project’s massive cost – a hugely controversial choice given that the Chancellor is currently scrabbling around to save as much money as possible.

“Rachel Reeves should cancel Sizewell C now and redirect those funds to the Warm Homes Plan, which would lower energy bills and create jobs in every constituency.”

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has proposed austerity measures for the welfare state, which she says are needed to fund infrastructure developments, ahead of the Spring Statement and Spending Review.

Cuts to welfare, particularly covering disability and unemployment support, are proving to be unpopular with dozens of MPs on the left of the Labour party.

A Together Against Sizewell C (TASC) spokesperson said: “Alarm bells should be ringing as the UK government stake in Sizewell C increases to 84% with only the UK taxpayer currently funding Sizewell C’s development costs.

“This begs the question, ‘Why are EDF refusing to put any further money into Sizewell C?’ EDF have decided to build no more of this reactor design in France, indicating they have no confidence in the EPR design destined for Sizewell.”

The spokesperson went on to say: “EDF are broke, as evidenced by their desperate search for cash to finish Hinkley Point C’s construction.

“This is hardly a secure basis for the UK government to continue in partnership with EDF and certainly not a good advert to encourage potential investors.”

Referencing EDF’s plans for a final stake to be as low as 10%, TASC said: “This evidences that even the developer considers the Sizewell C development to be inherently

EDF and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero did not respond to requests for comment.

March 28, 2025 Posted by | business and costs, France, UK | Leave a comment

Finland’s Fortum says building new nuclear power is too expensive, for now

New nuclear power production capacity is not commercially viable to
build for now, based on the current Nordic power market outlook of low
prices. The company on Monday concluded a two-year study into the
feasibility of new nuclear power but said it would focus on renewable
energy and nuclear lifetime extensions to cover growing electricity demand
in the Nordics for now.

“New nuclear could provide new supply to the
Nordics earliest in the second half of the 2030s, if market and regulatory
conditions are right,” Fortum CEO Markus Rauramo told reporters. He said
Fortum would continue to explore new nuclear generation and pumped
hydropower as long-term options in Sweden and Finland. Fortum said building
new nuclear reactors would require a solid risk sharing framework similar
to the one being prepared by the Swedish government.

 Reuters 24th March 2025,
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/finlands-fortum-explores-long-term-options-new-nuclear-power-2025-03-24/

March 28, 2025 Posted by | business and costs, Finland | Leave a comment

It’s time to stop Sizewell C to generate ‘Warm Homes’ jobs instead

 March 24 2025, Funding th Future – Tax Research UK.

Campaigners have called on Rachel Reeves and Ed Miliband to stop Sizewell C, and redirect its funding to generate ‘Warm Homes’ jobs in every constituency by the next election.

Their report’s summary says:

There is a clear political advantage from halting Sizewell C and redirecting the billions saved into making millions of homes more energy efficient, thus reducing fuel poverty. This approach will benefit every city, town, village and hamlet in Britain.

It will generate long-term, secure jobs, particularly for young people. It will be quick to implement, so by the next election new jobs and cheaper, warmer, healthier homes will have appeared in every constituency. By contrast, continuing to build Sizewell C and, post 2030, the development of new small modular nuclear reactors, will affect a limited number of constituencies.

Should Sizewell C go ahead, it is expected to cost around £40bn between now and when it opens, potentially around 2040: an average of £2.7bn per year for the next 15 years. Deducting money already spent, if Sizewell is cancelled now, the public money saved by 2030 is £7.1bn, assuming (as seems likely) no private investors are found to share the costs.

We propose that this £7.1bn should be added to the £6.6bn to be spent over the current Parliament on home energy efficiency, as promised in Labour’s 2024 manifesto. This shift of funds would massively increase the chances of achieving the Government’s aim to ‘Make Britain a clean energy superpower to cut bills, create jobs and deliver security with cheaper, zero-carbon electricity by 2030, accelerating to net zero‘. https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2025/03/24/its-time-to-stop-sizewell-c-to-generate-warm-homes-jobs-instead/

March 28, 2025 Posted by | business and costs, UK | Leave a comment

France delays EPR2 reactors to 2038

 The 4th meeting of France’s Nuclear Policy Council (CPN – Conseil de
politique nucléaire), chaired by President Emmanuel Macron, decided to
delay the commissioning of EPR2 reactors to 2038 – a postponement of
three years. The CPN, which has been held regularly since 2022, defines the
main orientations of national nuclear policy.

The EPR2 programme, announced
in February 2022, envisages the construction of six upgraded EPR reactors
with an option for eight more. The first three pairs of EPR2 reactors are
planned for the Penly, Gravelines and Bugey NPP sites. Construction is
expected to start in 2027. The cost was originally estimated at €51.7bn
($56.4bn), but this was revised upwards to €67.4bn in 2023, according to
the Court of Auditors. Taking inflation into account, a total budget of
nearly €80bn is now being considered.

 Nuclear Engineering International 21st March 2025, https://www.neimagazine.com/news/france-delays-epr2-reactors-to-2038/

March 27, 2025 Posted by | business and costs, France | 1 Comment

Macron ousts EDF boss accused of giving French industry ‘the middle finger’

Luc Rémont will be replaced in a reshuffle with factory energy prices set to soar

Alex Singleton, Business Reporter, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/03/21/macron-ousts-boss-state-run-edf-french-energy-prices-surge/

Emmanuel Macron has ousted the boss of the state-run EDF after French industrialists revolted over its high electricity prices.

Luc Rémont is to be replaced in a surprise reshuffling of the company’s top ranks, Mr Macron’s office said on Friday. Mr Rémont has run the the state-owned energy giant since November 2022.

The shake-up follows an outcry over the high energy prices EDF is poised to charge factories. Benoît Bazin, the boss of building materials giant Saint-Gobain, had accused EDF of “giving the middle finger to French industry” by increasing prices.

Rules that force EDF to sell energy to major industrialists at below-market prices are set to expire at the end of the year and the generator had announced plans to raise its prices.

Industry group Uniden, which represents dozens of France’s biggest manufacturers including Renault and steelmaker ArcelorMittal, claimed EDF was “deliberately turning its back” on French businesses at a time when manufacturers were “exposed to unprecedented non-European competition that threatens the very survival of many sites”.

The row is embarrassing for Mr Macron, who had pledged to “take back control of electricity prices” and who sees cheap electricity as a way of securing the French economy. Two years ago, he fully nationalised EDF by buying the 16pc of the company the government did not already own.

The shake-up comes days after the Macron administration said it had agreed state financing for six new nuclear reactors to be built by EDF over the coming decades.

Anger over high industrial energy prices is rising in the UK too. UK factories pay 50pc more for electricity than rivals in France and Germany, and four times as much as American plants. High prices have been blamed on net zero and slow-moving plans to expand nuclear power.

Warnings from industrialists that net zero energy policies are damaging the economy have fallen on deaf ears. Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary, said this week the UK Government was “absolutely up for the fight” over net zero.

EDF is one of the largest players in the UK nuclear power market, after buying three formerly nationalised regional electricity boards and the nuclear operator British Energy.

It is currently building the UK’s first new nuclear power station for over 20 years, Hinkley Point C, and plans to embark on the construction of another, Sizewell C. But in January, the future of this new project was thrown into doubt after the French state auditor warned it against embarking on risky new foreign projects.

EDF declined to comment. The French government has been approached for comment.

March 25, 2025 Posted by | business and costs, France, politics | Leave a comment

French government ousts head of nuclear power group EDF.

 Luc Rémont’s exit comes after months of tension over plans for new reactors and clash over pricing strategies.

France has ousted the chief executive of the
state-owned nuclear power group EDF after months of tensions over strategy
and the risk of cost overruns in the construction of six new reactors.

Luc Rémont, who had been at EDF since November 2022, would be replaced by
Bernard Fontana, the current head of Framatome, a subsidiary of EDF that
builds reactors and components, the Élysée Palace said on Friday.

EDF runs the country’s fleet of 57 nuclear plants that generate roughly 70
per cent of France’s electricity, and commercialises nuclear projects
abroad. Rémont succeeded in the initial challenge of restoring the output
of the fleet of reactors after a period plagued by technical problems, and
was in the early stages of a plan to build new more powerful, yet costly
ones, known as the EPR2.

But his term was marred by continued spats with
the state, which nationalised EDF through buying out the minority
shareholders in 2023. The Elysée decided not to renew Rémont’s
three-year term that was set to expire in June.

A major point of contention
was over Rémont’s plans to revamp how EDF sells electricity to big
industrial companies with energy-intensive activities. In the past, the
company was legally required to sell fixed amounts of electricity to them
at a price approved both by the French government and the European
Commission.

With those rules expiring next year, Rémont had been set to
combine market pricing with the signing of long-term contracts with
customers in energy-intensive industries. But the offers attracted few
companies since the terms and prices were less attractive. In parallel to
long-term contracts, EDF said this month that it would launch a new
auction-like process for other industries, including foreign buyers, in a
move that angered energy-intensive groups in France.

 FT 21st March 2025, https://www.ft.com/content/c822f4e4-c15a-4038-aad4-a7151629277d

March 24, 2025 Posted by | business and costs, France | Leave a comment

Macron Ousts EDF CEO as Tension Rises on French Power Costs

The French government said Electricite de France SA Chief Executive Officer Luc Remont is stepping down as the state-owned utility faces increasing complaints from large industrial clients over the cost of electricity.

Author of the article:, Bloomberg News, Francois de Beaupuy, https://financialpost.com/pmn/business-pmn/macron-ousts-edf-ceo-as-tension-rises-on-french-power-costs 21 Mar 25

(Bloomberg) — The French government said Electricite de France SA Chief Executive Officer Luc Remont is stepping down as the state-owned utility faces increasing complaints from large industrial clients over the cost of electricity.

President Emmanuel Macron is considering appointing Bernard Fontana, the 64-year-old senior executive vice president in charge of the company’s Industry and Services unit, as the new chairman and CEO, the president’s office said in a statement Friday. Remont, 55, has held the positions since November 2022.Article content

“The choice that the government has long supported is electricity that is abundant, clean and not too expensive, and it’s based on this choice that Bernard Fontana’s nomination has been made,” French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou said on a trip to Bourges, central France. “He’s an industrialist, which means he’s used to running teams and speeding up projects.”  

Tensions between the government, EDF and major customers have been mounting over the utility’s electricity offerings. Representatives of power-hungry users, such as chemical makers, have said EDF’s new offers aren’t attractive enough, threatening their competitiveness, while rivals in the US and Asia enjoy cheaper energy. Their concerns have been exacerbated recently by sluggish economic growth, uncertainties over gas prices due to the Ukraine war, and mounting trade tensions between Europe, the US and China.

A French regulation that forces the nuclear behemoth to sell more than a quarter of its atomic output at a steep discount to current wholesale prices expires at year’s end. Meantime, the debt-laden utility said it needs to increase expenditure on nuclear projects and the power grid to help the country’s energy transition. 

On Thursday, Benoit Bazin, the CEO of French glass and building materials producer Cie. de Saint-Gobain, said on BFM Business television that his company has delayed investment in France because it cannot predict energy costs from next year. Meantime, it has invested in Norway and Canada to electrify plants, and will soon do the same in Spain.

Bazin said he was “extremely shocked” by Remont’s recent decision to auction long-term power supply contracts to rival producers and suppliers, broadening offers that initially were reserved for its large electricity clients. 

“EDF is a national company that has a public service mission on the competitiveness of the French industry,” the Saint-Gobain CEO said. “France won’t keep its industry, nor re-industrialization and decarbonization if we keep walking on our head.”

Shutting Sites

Earlier this week, Marc Schuller, chief operating officer of French chemical maker Arkema SA, said during a parliamentary hearing that talks with EDF over new power contracts were “advancing very slowly.

“If nothing is done, we’ll have to consider shutting down sites and stopping some activities because we wouldn’t be competitive anymore,” Schuller said.   

Fontana has held a variety of management positions during his career at steelmakers ArcelorMittal SA and Aperam SA, including CEO of Swiss cement maker Holcim Ltd. Within EDF, he’s been in charge in recent years of Framatome, the unit that makes large equipment for nuclear plants.

Beyond easing tensions with large customers, the future boss of EDF will have to complete complex talks with the French and UK governments over the financing and construction of new reactors, which are key planks of these countries’ net-zero ambitions. 

—With assistance from Shelby Knowles.

March 24, 2025 Posted by | business and costs, France | Leave a comment

Idle Lepreau nuclear plant threatens to post worst operational year in 4 decades

Refurbishing only half the nuclear plant was a mistake, utility president admits


Robert Jones · CBC News : Mar 21, 2025

An end-of-the-fiscal-year breakdown at Point Lepreau is worsening what may turn out to be the poorest operational year on record for the 42-year-old plant.

The nuclear generating station was shutdown on Monday after a malfunctioning cooling fan was deemed to need immediate repair. That fix is expected to take almost until the end of the month  

“Work is underway to repair an issue with the cooling fan and motor assembly,” D’Arcy Walsh, an N.B. Power spokesperson, said in an email. “We expect the station to return to service by the end of next week.”

A scheduled maintenance shutdown last spring, followed by the discovery of a major issue last summer in Lepreau’s generator, previously had the plant offline from early last April to mid-December. The latest problem is dragging the year’s low productivity further 

Not including the years Lepreau was offline between 2008 and 2013 for a $2.5-billion refurbishment, the plant’s least productive year was in 1995, when it underwent work on sagging pressure tubes in its reactor and operated for just over 100 days.   

Downtime at Lepreau is expensive for N.B. Power and has been cited as the primary cause for its current financial problems.

In February, N.B. Power president Lori Clark told MLAs the fortunes of the utility are largely dependent on how well, or poorly, the nuclear plant performs…………………….

Since it returned from refurbishment in late 2012, Lepreau has suffered a number of problems and has been taken offline for maintenance and repairs for more than 1,100 days in total.

More than one third of that downtime has occurred just in the last three years.

It has been estimated by the utility to cost between $1 million and $4 million per day when Lepreau is idle, depending on the time of year and the cost of generating or buying replacement power……………………………https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/idle-lepreau-nuclear-plant-threatening-worst-operational-year-nb-1.7490177

March 22, 2025 Posted by | business and costs, Canada | Leave a comment

Hinkley Point C nuclear will cost at least £75 billion – highly unlikely that Sizewell C will be any cheaper.

KEEPING REEVES SWEET: AXE SIZEWELL C!

Jonathon Porritt, 19 Mar 25

“…………………………… , Ed Miliband’s still a total sucker for the propaganda of both the fossil fuel industry (with the latest research from Fossil Free Parliament reminding us that DESNZ Ministers notched up an unbelievable 104 ministerial meetings with various fossil fuel companies between July and September last year) as well as the nuclear industry.

I’ll return to Ed’s mystifying obsession with the fossil fuel industry’s mega-scam of Carbon Capture and Storage in my next blog. For now, let’s just stick to his nuclear nonsense.

Knowing that he will have to give something big and bold back to the Treasury if he’s going to be able to protect things that really matter in his overall portfolio, the blindingly obvious thing to give up is Sizewell C. He knows the Treasury already despises the nuclear industry, deep down, after literally decades of its over-claiming and under-performing. So give them some red meat. A lot of red meat.

The UK Government has already spent around £3.7 billion on preparing the groundworks for Sizewell C. I saw the consequences of that for myself when I was in the area a couple of weeks ago, and I was genuinely shocked. The devastation is unbelievable – including more than 21,000 trees cut down. And that’s BEFORE a Final Investment Decision (FID) has actually been secured. Prospective investors (even in the Middle East) seem to be a lot less keen on Sizewell C than Ministers keep telling us.

Worse yet, Labour has promised another £2.7 billion in the next financial year – to go on doing exactly the same, again, before an FID is secured. Axing Sizewell C at this point, however painful that might be politically, would be a huge, short-term win for the Treasury.

In fact, this would be a much, much bigger prize for UK taxpayers in the longer term. Sizewell C has been described by EDF as a “Hinkley Point look-alike, with a lot of lessons learned”. There’s mighty little evidence that the UK nuclear industry has ever learned a single lesson from its unparalleled record of failure, but let’s just live with that for the time being.

The latest estimate for the “overnight cost” of Hinkley Point C in Somerset is £46 billion. Please don’t be fooled by that ever-so-opaque terminology: “overnight” simply means the cost of construction. It’s the figure the industry loves to trot out to the UK’s limitlessly gullible media (including the BBC and The Guardian), without acknowledging that it doesn’t include the cost of the capital EDF has had to raise to build this monstrous white elephant in the first place. EDF has indicated in the past that cost of capital can add as much as 60% to the overnight cost.

Yes, that’s right: Hinkley Point C will cost at least £75 billion.

It’s highly unlikely that Sizewell C, on the Suffolk coast, will be any cheaper – indeed, it’s already clear that the engineering challenge at Sizewell C is much greater than at Hinkley Point C.

And who will pay for Sizewell C? Well, it’s either YOU as a taxpayer (depending on the size of the stake that the UK government will eventually have to take in Sizewell C in order to secure that ever-elusive Final Investment Decision), or YOU as an energy consumer, through the chosen mechanism of a Regulated Asset Base. From the moment construction at Sizewell C starts, consumers’ bills will start rising.

Axing Sizewell C will obviously be a huge hit to the nuclear industry. Which means it’s probably too much to kill off the industry’s accompanying fantasies about Small Modular Reactors at the same time. At the moment, subsidising SMRs is relatively small beer for the taxpayer, and it’s got as much to do with keeping Rolls Royce on board as it has with any serious attempt to crack the huge technological challenges associated with these new reactors.

Once free of Sizewell C, DESNZ could then double down on all those parts of its portfolio which will deliver real economic value before the next election: solar and wind, storage (batteries plus a lot more), reconfigured grids, and low-carbon manufacturing………………………………..
https://jonathonporritt.com/poor-old-ed-miliband/

March 22, 2025 Posted by | business and costs, UK | Leave a comment

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