UK made grave errors over Hinkley nuclear project: MPs

Planned nuclear power station at Hinkley Point

Wasting vast amounts of money and selling consumers short seems to be par for the course in UK electricity generation, as this Phys.org report highlights.

Britain made “grave strategic errors” in its handling of the Franco-Chinese Hinkley Point nuclear project, a critical parliamentary report concluded Wednesday.

The House of Commons’ Public Accounts Committee stressed that consumers will pay a high price for construction of the Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant, which was given the green light by the government in September 2016.

The £19.6-billion ($26-billion, 22-billion-euro) project, which is to be built by French energy giant EDF and China General Nuclear Power Corporation (CGN), is highly symbolic of the UK’s nuclear renewal.

The pair will construct two European Pressurised Reactors, a third-generation reactor design, at the site in Somerset, southwest England. Neither of the EPRs will however be operational until the end of 2025 at the earliest.

“The government made some grave strategic errors here and must now explain what it will do to ensure these are not repeated,” wrote Labour MP Meg Hillier, who is chair of the cross-party committee of lawmakers.

The report voiced alarm that the government does not intend to review the contract—despite the fact it could add £30 billion to consumers’ bills over the next 35 years.

That is five times more than the government envisaged in 2013 when it agreed provisional terms.

Continued here.