“When it begins producing electricity in the middle of the next decade it will provide 7 percent of the UK’s electricity needs; giving secure energy to 6 million homes for 60 years”, he said.
Advertisement
The Prime Minister braved a furious backlash among MPs and campaigners to give the go-ahead for the French energy giant EDF to develop the site in Somerset, with China General Nuclear picking up one-third of the cost.
Hinkley Point would produce around seven per cent of the UK’s energy while Sizewell and Bradwell would provide a further 12 per cent between them, potentially giving the Chinese involvement in almost one-fifth of the country’s electricity generation.
EDF confirmed its investment in the Hinkley Point C project in July 2016, paving the way for contracts to be signed with the United Kingdom government and partner China General Nuclear Power Generation (CGN).
The UK decision “confirms our technology leadership and it also confirms that it was not such a bad decision to buy Alstom”, Andreas Lusch, chief executive officer of steam power systems at GE Power, said in an interview on Thursday.
CGN plans to make a number of investments in British nuclear power, including the building and operating of a new nuclear power station with EDF at Bradwell-on-Sea in Essex, south-east England.
Seeking to reassure citizens concerned about the foreign financing, May’s government said it is instituting new controls on foreign investment.
“However, ministers will impose a new legal framework for future foreign investment in Britain’s critical infrastructure, which will include nuclear energy and apply after Hinkley”.
It added: “There will be reforms to the government’s approach to the ownership and control of critical infrastructure to ensure that the full implications of foreign ownership are scrutinised for the purposes of national security”.
Critics say the arrangement could give China the power to plunge Britain into darkness, and the new British government of Prime Minister Theresa May ordered a review of the project in July. We are proceeding on the basis of robust new safeguards that will enhance security at Hinkley.
The delay in approving the new nuclear plant, which will be the first in a generation, also caused tension with the French government because EDF had approved funding for the project despite serious concerns about the company’s ability to absorb the huge costs. “As the Secretary of State said, we are very much a country that is open for business and welcomes global investment into Britain”.
“Not at all”, he said.
Advertisement
May’s greatest concern was reportedly the Bradwell nuclear plant project, which was approved alongside Hinkley Point under the previous administration.
