29 Aug (NucNet): Critics of the Hinkley Point C nuclear station project in southwest England are at risk of “losing sight of the bigger picture” by failing to see the “positive impact and importance “ of the investment for the UK, EDF Energy chief executive officer Vincent de Rivaz wrote in an article published on the company’s website yesterday.
The plan to build the two EPR units for £18bn (€21bn, $24bn) at Hinkley Point was hit with an unexpected delay in July as the new UK government decided to hold another review only hours after EDF – the project’s state-owned French developer – had given it the go-ahead.
A Chinese investor, the China General Nuclear Power Generation (CGN), has a one-third stake in the project while the French side holds all the rest.
Earlier reports this month hinted of tensions between London and Beijing over the project’s delay.
Mr de Rivaz wrote that China’s participation “is much more” than £6bn of investment as it brings the benefits of a 30-year partnership between EDF and CGN in nuclear construction in China.
He wrote that the cost of Hinkley Point’s electricity should be compared with future energy prices and not those of today. Hinkley Point will be competitive with all future energy options, including fossil fuels, when the cost of carbon is taken into account, Mr de Rivaz added.
On the potential use of small modular reactor technology in the UK, Mr de Rivaz wrote that it is still surrounded by a number of future political and regulatory uncertainties and “we can’t afford to cross our fingers and muddle through in the hope that a new technology will meet all our needs at the right price”.
Details are online: http://bit.ly/2bU933m
