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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Announcing the approval of the project in a statement, the United Kingdom government said that in future, the government would take a share in all new nuclear projects to “ensure that significant stakes can not be sold without the Government’s knowledge or consent”. The government will also be able to intervene in the sale of EDF once Hinkley is operational, which is expected to be from the mid-2020s.
The country’s eight existing nuclear plants generate roughly 20% of the U.K.’s power, but most of the aging facilities will be shuttered over the next decade and a half.
France’s EDF had agreed to pay for two-thirds of the project, with China paying one-third.
The UK Government issued the following press release on September 15: “Government confirms Hinkley Point C project following new agreement in principle with EDF – Ministers impose significant new safeguards for future foreign investment in critical infrastructure.”
He told parliament that the plant’s construction would create 26,000 jobs and it would guarantee 7 percent of Britain’s electricity needs for 60 years. The government has stamped through the final approvals needed to get the French and the Chinese in to show us how it’s done and build Hinkley Point C.
In 2013, the project received state aid from the United Kingdom government in the form of a subsidy of £92.50 (approximately $156) for every megawatt hour (MWh) produced by the power plantover a 35-year period.
EDF’s labor unions wanted the United Kingdom project to be delayed by about three years to benefit from feedback from reactors being built in France, Finland and China.
According to the statement, the British government will take a special share in all future nuclear projects after Hinkley, which will ensure that significant stakes can not be sold without the government’s knowledge or consent.
The move is said to be new national security test for all foreign investment in critical infrastructure, which could hamper Beijing’s goal of developing its own plant at Bradwell in Essex and making a more active investment in Sizewell B in Suffolk. “We will continue to work with our strategic partner French EDF to develop nuclear power projects at Hinkley Point, Sizewell and Bradwell, and provide safe, reliable and sustainable low-carbon energy for the UK”, CGN spokesman Huang Xiaofei said.
“This will ensure that significant stakes can not be sold without the Government’s knowledge or consent”, the BBC reported.
‘Giving the thumbs up to Hinkley is vital to fill the growing hole in the UK’s energy supply needs, ‘ he said.
“The Government said they would review every aspect of this deal. what is now leaking out is they are not going to change that exorbitant price that bill payers will be paying”.
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Bridget Woodman, deputy director of Exeter University’s energy policy group, said: “The Prime Minister has caved in to French and Chinese pressure to go ahead despite all the evidence stacking up that subsidising the station will cost electricity consumers billions of pounds over its lifetime – not to mention all the taxpayer underwriting for clearing up its radioactive waste when it stops operating”.
