Hinkley Point – EDF to decide whether to build nuclear power station next week
A DECISION on whether a nuclear power station is built at Hinkley Point could be announced next week.
Reports in the French press indicate that the board of directors of the French state electricity generator EDF will meet on January 27 to make a final investment decision on the construction of two nuclear reactors at Hinkley Point near Bridgwater.
The final investment decision on the project has been delayed due to the lengthy negotiations with Chinese partners.
However even now there are concerns that the board might defer the decision for the ninth time.
EDF plans to build two EPR third generation on the Hinkley Point C site in partnership with the Chinese public company CGN, which will support a third of the £18 billion needed to build it.
Energy share in Hinkley Point C will be 66.5% and CGN’s will be 33.5%.
A trade agreement was signed on October 21, but the final investment decision is still awaited.
EDF is also locked in negotiations surrounding a complex deal to buy a French nuclear reactor builder, Areva, and in the disposal of it’s stake in eight current British nuclear power stations, five in the US, one in Finland and a number of Polish coal fired plants.
The future of hundreds of businesses, thousands of potential jobs and millions of pounds in investment in Somerset depends on whether the plans to build Hinkley Point C go ahead.
It is expected to provide 25,000 jobs during construction and 900 jobs in its planned 60 year operating life with at least 5,000 people from Somerset expected to work directly on the project.
Preparation of the site stopped last year when negotiations over the financing of the power station stalled.
Campaigners opposed to the building of Hinkley Point C are sceptical that the project will ever see the light of day.
