French OK to Build UK’s New Nuke Plant

by: Posted date: March 20, 2013 In: Headlines

From The Sun

The state-run power giant received planning permission for a mammoth facility at Hinkley Point in Somerset.

Energy minister Ed Davey — who campaigned AGAINST nuclear power in 2006 — said the site was “critical” to securing our future energy needs.

The £14 billion facility would be capable of powering five million homes.

Jubilant EDF boss Vincent de Rivaz told The Sun it was an “iconic day”. But he admitted there was still NO certainty it would be built.

He said EDF faced critical talks with the Government to thrash out a guaranteed price for the power the site would generate.

Insiders say that without this subsidy EDF will not be able to generate enough of a return for investors. Sources claim EDF may demand £100 a megawatt hour — far more than the current going rate for power.

Mr de Rivaz said: “The current market prices are not a relevant benchmark when it’s about the price of electricity in the next decade — and when many of us will have invested tens of billions to keep the lights on. That’s what it’s about. I believe though an agreement is still possible.”

Sizewell B was the last nuclear power plant built in Britain, in 1995.

Last night GREEN PARTY MP Caroline Lucas said: “Ed Davey warned in 2006 that a new generation of nuclear power stations will cost taxpayers and consumers tens of billions of pounds. So it’s astonishing that, in a deplorable departure from his party’s policy, he has today given the green light to EDF.”

EDF once boasted its nuclear power plants would be ready to help Brits cook their Xmas dinners in 2017 but it now may not be ready until 2023.

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