One of the government’s top climate advisers has raised doubts over EDF’s competence to build nuclear plants and called the decision to locate a proposed plant at Sizewell C in Suffolk ridiculous. Lord Deben, who chairs the climate change committee and lives in Suffolk, was accused by EDF of being a nimby after making the comments at a nuclear conference yesterday. EDF, the French energy group, is in talks with the government over Sizewell C and confirmed that it hopes to secure a taxpayer investment by the end of July in the estimated £20 billion project, which could power six million homes. It is already building a plant at Hinkley Point C in Somerset which is now expected to start up 18 months late and up to £8 billion over budget. Lord Deben said: “The nuclear industry has a problem because it doesn’t deliver things on time and it doesn’t deliver them to budget. EDF has still got two nuclear power stations which aren’t finished and the reasons they’re not finished are nothing to do with nuclear. So there’s a real concern with people about how qualified these people are to do these things.” He said the most common argument he heard against nuclear power was that “you can’t trust these people because they never deliver on time and they’re always more expensive”. “That is true of Hinkley: it’s late and it’s much more expensive than it was going to be,” he said.
Times 24th June 2022 read more »