EDF’s reactor for its first nuclear plant in the UK for 30 years arrives by ship

“I’ll set Britain on a course to energy security by radically increasing production of renewables and nuclear and creating hundreds of thousands of green jobs in the process. This is our plan to take back power, to fuel Britain from Britain “

But Hinkley Point C’s repeated delays have raised concerns as the Government has appeared to hedge its bets on nuclear. The Somerset project was initially meant supposed to start producing electricity by 2017 at a cost of £18billion. Now expected to cost £32billion, the delays have thrown into question whether building more nuclear plants is an appropriate response to the energy crisis.

Previously speaking to Express.co.uk, Dr Paul Dorfman, Associate Fellow SPRU University of Sussex, explained: “The fact is, EDF EPR reactor design costs have ramped everywhere it’s built with massive delays.”

He also warned that “because of the new Regulated Asset Base (RAB) funding mechanism, the inevitable huge cost and delay hikes” for another key nuclear project in the pipeline, Sizewell C, will be “borne by the hard-pressed UK electricity consumer and taxpayer from the word go”.

Campaigners from Stop Sizewell C, who are calling for the Government to slam the breaks on this partially taxpayer-funded project, have said: “Nuclear energy is not green energy, it’s as simple as that. It’s not renewable and produces waste that remains toxic for thousands of years, with as yet no long-term solution for storing it.

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Article source: https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1740065/edf-reacotr-hinkley-point-c-somerset-nuclear-energy