Britain’s nuclear energy future in jeopardy.

The Week, Jan 15, 2019

Hitachi set to suspend work on £16bn reactor, leaving Hinkley Point as the only new UK plant still being built. Japanese firm Hitachi is set to cancel a £16 billion nuclear power station in Wales, leaving the long-term future of Britain’s energy sector in jeopardy.

While no formal decision has yet been made, the Nikkei newspaper has reported that an impasse in months-long talks between the company, London and Toyko on financing is expected to result in the flagship Wylfa project being axed at a Hitachi board this week.

The company has already ploughed nearly £2 billion into the project, yet has struggled to attract investors, “even though (the) UK government may have promised as much as two thirds of the build cost” says Unearthed, a “generous largesse on behalf of UK taxpayers, not offered to any other energy projects”.

“Withdrawal by Hitachi would be a major blow to the UK’s plans to replace dirty coal and ageing reactors with new nuclear power plants, and heap pressure on ministers to consider other large-scale alternatives such as offshore windfarms,” says The Guardian, adding it would “leave Britain’s ambitions for a nuclear renaissance in tatters”

……. the assumptions which underpinned the old policy now look laughably wrong”, says the Financial Times.

“The costs of all forms of energy (apart from nuclear) have fallen dramatically and there is no shortage of supply. Electricity demand is down thanks to efficiency gains and new technology. The contract for the first new nuclear station being built at Hinkley Point in Somerset, which enjoys a guaranteed index-linked price for 35 years from the moment the plant is commissioned, looks exorbitant” says the paper. …….https://www.theweek.co.uk/98952/britain-s-nuclear-energy-future-in-jeopardy

January 17, 2019 - Posted by Christina MacPherson | General News

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