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 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. Campaigners opposed to the building of Hinkley Point C are sceptical that the project will ever see the light of day. Stop Hinkley spokesperson Roy Pumfrey said: “I’ll believe it when I see it. This is the ninth time EDF has said a final investment decision is imminent. Just last October the chairman of EDF, Jean-Bernard Levy, said work would be starting before the end of 2015. It would be completely reckless of the Board to give the go-ahead to this £25 billion project when the company is in such a parlous state.”
Central Somerset Gazette 19th Jan 2016 read more »
The British government gave the go-ahead on Tuesday for a power line project at the Hinkley Point C nuclear plant, part of the infrastructure needed for electricity transmission at the planned station.The project, which will use a new generation of pylon called the T-pylon, will carry power from EDF’s 3.2 gigawatt nuclear plant to the southwest of England.”This is a step forward in the Hinkley Point C project, which will play a crucial part in our plan to provide clean, affordable and secure energy for hardworking families and businesses,” energy and climate minister Lord Bourne said in a statement.
Reuters 19th Jan 2016 read more »
Power Engineering 19th Jan 2016 read more »
Business Green 20th Jan 2016 read more »
Today’s decision by the Secretary of State to approve the Hinkley Point C connection is an important step towards enabling the proposed new nuclear power station to supply enough low carbon electricity for over five million homes. The extra transmission capacity is needed for Hinkley Point C to make its important contribution to the UK’s requirement for affordable, low carbon electricity for decades to come. It already has planning approval (through a Development Consent Order) from the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, granted in March 2013, as well as other licences and consents required.
EDF Energy 19th Jan 2016 read more »
EDF funded police force say there are two types of protestors that demonstrate outside Hinkley Point. Sgt Steve Crago told the town council in Bridgwater that there were planned and unplanned protests which they were experienced in dealing with. He said: “Planned protests are easy to deal with as we get advance notice of those. As an example in October the Green Party MEP Molly Scott Cato and a French politician gathered at Hinkley Point. WE met with their representatives. We had a plan and the plan were very well with 100 people there and it was a successful day.” Three weeks later there was a different protest which was unplanned. “At half past six one morning,” he said,“it was about half a mile from the power station were three people in the middle of the road preventing 2,000 people from getting on the site. It was interesting to note that they were three females aged 62, 65 and 72. So we are dealing with all types of people.”
Burnham & Highbridge Weekly News 18th Jan 2016 read more »
Hinkley Point C will be the UK’s first new nuclear power station built for a generation, and will pave the way for further nuclear power stations. Hinkley Point C is a big opportunity for UK steel, as well as for UK construction and manufacturing more widely. UK companies have been successful in securing over £250m of manufacturing contracts right across the country, which is further evidence of our growing confidence that UK plc can be competitive and deliver the quality standards required of New Nuclear Build. The project has a large and varied demand for steel. This includes around 200,000 tonnes of reinforcement in the concrete structures, over 600,000 embedment plates, large quantities of structural steelwork for the construction of the turbine halls and other structures, steel containment liners to the two reactor buildings, stainless steel liners to fuel ponds and a thousand kilometres of steel pipework. It is our expectation that a large proportion of this requirement will come from UK companies, subject to a competitive process.
EDF Energy 19th Jan 2016 read more »