Britain’s new government has cast doubt over a project with French energy company EDF to build the UK’s first new nuclear plant in decades, delaying a decision on the plan just a day after the company’s board voted to proceed.
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With the approval by the board of directors, EDF will move ahead with contracts signing with the United Kingdom government, EDF’s partner China General Nuclear Power Generation (CGN), and the main suppliers for the project.
Business secretary Greg Clark says the government with “consider carefully” before supporting it, though Tom Greatrex, the chief executive of the Nuclear Industry Association, has called for a decision to be made sharpish.
A CGN spokesman said: “We respect the new government’s need to familiarise itself with a project as important to the UK’s future energy security as Hinkley Point C and we stand ready to help the government in this respect”.
“The Government will now consider carefully all the component parts of this project and make its decision in the early autumn”. In November, climate and energy secretary Amber Rudd said high-emission coal plants were “not the future” adding that a combination of nuclear and renewable energy should be used.
But the decision cost another job as another EDF board member Gerard Magnin resigned in protest. Ten members voted in favor, with seven opposed, they said. The country, one of the oldest nuclear power-generating nations in the world, is relying on new nuclear plants such as Hinkley Point to replace ageing stations.
Construction of similar reactors in France and China are years behind schedule.
An EDF spokeswoman declined to comment.
A decision not to give the planned Hinkley Point nuclear power station the go-ahead would be a “shock” given the “prestige” of the project, ITV News’ Business Editor Joel Hills said. After years of procrastination, what is required is decisive action not dithering and more delay.
An EDF and government go-ahead would provide a much-needed boost to the industry’s confidence following the publication of our most recent quarterly Workload Trends Survey, which found that growth in the sector had ground to a halt ahead of the European Union referendum.
If built, Hinkley Point C is expected to supply Britain with 7 percent of its electricity, supplying millions of homes and businesses with reliable, carbon-free power, while also providing as many as 25,000 construction jobs.
The Telegraph said both EDF and government sources had thought that ministers would sign off the subsidy deal for the plant today.
Conservative MP Zac Goldsmith tweeted: “It’s hard to imagine a worse deal than Hinkley Point project”.
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“Delaying the decision on Hinkley at the eleventh hour shows a disregard for the 25,000 British jobs that depend on it and sends a disastrous message to the investor community that this Government is incapable of managing large scale infrastructure projects”, he argued.
