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posted by janrinok on Friday July 29 2016, @09:06AM   Printer-friendly
from the at-a-price dept.

Two Soylentils wrote in with information about plans for a new nuclear reactor in the UK.

UK Likely to Build its First New Nuclear Power Plant in Decades

After years of delays, approval is likely imminent for what would become the UK's first new nuclear power plant in decades:

Energy giant EDF will make its long-awaited final investment decision on the planned nuclear power station at Hinkley Point, ending doubts over the £18bn project. The French firm's board meets in Paris on Thursday and is expected to give the go-ahead for the first nuclear power station to be built in the UK for a generation. UK unions have said they would warmly welcome such a decision, much-delayed, saying workers were "raring to go" – with 25,000 jobs set to be created.

Environmental groups including Greenpeace have criticised any go-ahead, calling for investment in homegrown renewable energy like offshore wind. Fresh criticism is also expected over the government's promise to pay EDF £92.50 for each megawatt hour of energy it generates.

Hinkley Point C (HPC) would provide 7% of the UK's electricity over its estimated lifetime of 60 years and is scheduled to begin generating power in 2025, several years later than planned.

Also at The Conversation.

Hinkley Point: New hitch for UK nuclear plant deal

The BBC reports that

Plans to build the first new UK nuclear plant in 20 years have suffered an unexpected delay after the government postponed a final decision until the early autumn.

French firm EDF, which is financing most of the £18bn Hinkley Point project in Somerset, approved the funding at a board meeting.

Contracts were to be signed on Friday.

But Business Secretary Greg Clark has said the government will "consider carefully" before backing it.

The proposed Hinkley Point nuclear power plant in Somerset County in southwestern England. According to an Eagle Radio report,

The Government has said it will not make a final decision on whether to build a new nuclear power plant in Somerset until Autumn [...]


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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by bootsy on Friday July 29 2016, @09:56AM

    by bootsy (3440) on Friday July 29 2016, @09:56AM (#381465)

    The long dated UK Gilt yields have never ever been this low. They used to be around 10% and we are getting less than 2% now. It has never been cheaper to fund large infrastructure projects and yet the UK government won't do this and is instead hoping for investment from the Chinese and EDF, who are partly owned by the French state. This will end up costing far too much.

    The UK used to be able to build it's own nuclear plants and know how to do this and yet now it seems to have no expertise or desire to construct a powerplant itself.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 29 2016, @10:28AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 29 2016, @10:28AM (#381470)

    Who needs nuclear power when Putin promised to provide us with cheap gas forever? Or we could use power of the English sky to power London for "free"?

    /sarcasm, if you didn't catch it

  • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 29 2016, @11:58AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 29 2016, @11:58AM (#381495)

    EDF, who are partly owned by the French state

    About 80%, indeed.

    EDF is already in a rather suboptimal way. Some managers have quit over Hinkley Point, being sure that this will lead to dire consequences for the company. One of the concerns is about binding lots of capital, which will then be missing for quality control in the existing power plants, potentially leading to security issues. Also, lots of capital is going to be needed for the decommissioning of several older plants nearing retirement (e.g. Fessenheim). Greens would also prefer to see this kind of money to be invested in renewables, politics wanting to drive the energy mix at least somewhat off nuclear.

    The EPR is already experiencing huge delays and cost increases at Olkiluoto and Flamanville, not least with quality issues with the pressure vessel. Hinkley Point would be another potentially disastrous adventure.

    • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Friday July 29 2016, @04:26PM

      by bob_super (1357) on Friday July 29 2016, @04:26PM (#381593)

      Or maybe they have learnt from the prototypes, got a killer price guarantee for the electricity, can't build one at home for a little while, have to help their Board friends at Areva, and know that in case of major trouble, a little bit of crying about terrible balance sheets will mean the French people will pay more for electricity and fill any gap.

  • (Score: 2) by turgid on Friday July 29 2016, @01:41PM

    by turgid (4318) Subscriber Badge on Friday July 29 2016, @01:41PM (#381525) Journal

    To our governments, the Market is sacred. They will not invest in anything like this at all, even if it is vital to the country's long-term energy supply infrastructure. Foreign state-owned companies can take the risk and the public can pay for it over the coming decades.

  • (Score: 2) by Gravis on Saturday July 30 2016, @12:28AM

    by Gravis (4596) on Saturday July 30 2016, @12:28AM (#381808)

    Gilts are bonds that are issued by the British government, and they are generally considered low-risk investments. Gilts are the U.K. equivalent of U.S. Treasury securities, and the name originates from the original certificates, issued by the British government, which had gilded edges.

    Gilts can be of two types: conventional gilts issued in nominal terms, and index-linked gilts, which are indexed to inflation and are similar to Treasury inflation-protected securities in the United States.

    today i learned about gilts and then i forgot about... umm... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯