The construction of Hinkley Point C, the UK’s first new nuclear power plant in over 20 years, has been agreed in principle by the United Kingdom government.
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When the Hinkley deal was agreed by David Cameron past year, the agreement concerned only Hinkley Point but said the Government would look favourably on a Chinese-built reactor at Bradwell.
“We are very happy the British government has approved the project”, CGN said in a statement.
The government said in a statement that it had made a decision to proceed with the 18 billion-pound ($23 billion) Hinkley Point plant in southwest England, but that future foreign-funded infrastructure projects will be subject to tighter rules.
The government of new Prime Minister Theresa May said it would proceed with the Hinkley Point C project in southwest England, approving French utility firm EDF’s plan to build Britain’s first new nuclear reactor in decades, backed by $8 billion of Chinese cash.
“What we have decided is that for critical infrastructure generally we want to make sure our powers in this country are comparable to those of others, to be able to check that national security considerations are taken into account”.
The British government on Thursday gave the green light to the multi-billion US dollar Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant, but attached new measures to ensure the country’s security.
One source says the French and Chinese governments have been told that the £18bn Hinkley Point project will go ahead, with conditions.
Levy said there could yet be further changes to size of EDF’s 66 pct stake but undertaking means its will stay above 50 pct in Hinkley Point. The time it will take to build Hinkley Point C will mean that we will continue to be more dependent on our higher carbon energy sectors than if we had opted to invest in our renewables sector more heavily.
The government said it would now “impose a new legal framework for future foreign investment in Britain’s critical infrastructure”.
But Clark’s ministry explained the government was taking steps to ensure it could intervene to stop any sale of EDF’s stake and to give the government more control over future nuclear projects. The government also confirmed today that EDF will get a guaranteed £92.50 per megawatt-hour of electricity for 35 years-way above the current wholesale cost of electricity in the UK.
The Liberal Democrats said Hinkley was a “waste of public money”.
“Britain needs to upgrade its supplies of energy, and we have always been clear that nuclear is an important part of ensuring our future low-carbon energy security”, Greg Clark, the secretary of state for business and energy, said in the statement.
Consumers will bear this cost.
State-owned CGN reacted with delight and said it was now “able to move forward and deliver” nuclear capacity at other sites, including Bradwell in Essex and Sizewell in Suffolk.
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“Instead it seems that Hinkley became too big to fail”, said Mr John Sauven, executive director of Greenpeace UK.
