A French union has published a set of last-minute challenges to EDF over its plans to build an £18bn nuclear power plant at Hinkley Point in Somerset, with just days to go before an expected final investment decision. People close to the deal said they expected the decision about whether the project would go ahead to happen at a board meeting on Wednesday. EDF declined to comment. The CFE-CGC energy union, which is represented on EDF’s board, has drawn up a list of 15 questions it says have yet to be answered. The list includes an expression of serious concern about the plant’s viability and what it might cost the company, and is the latest sign of worries about a deal that has attracted criticism in the UK and France. The document reveals that the Infrastructure UK arm of the government has attached a BB+ credit rating to the project – below investment grade – reflecting worries in Whitehall that it might not be completed. The Treasury did not respond to a request to comment. Among the questions from the French union are several asking what happens if the project, which has been delayed many times already, is not built before 2025, as planned. The union expressed concern that “significant” financial issues related to the Hinkley plant could “put EDF in danger” in the long term. It asked: “What is the rationale for starting construction on two EPRs, at the same site, in such a short period of time?” Given that the other projects appeared to be taking 10-15 years to build, its asked of Hinkley Point: “How can EDF estimate a construction time of nine years?” Much of the concern in France about the project focuses on how EDF plans to pay for the reactor while continuing to pay its dividend. A report this month in the French business newspaper Les Echos suggested that EDF’s finance for Hinkley Point could come from selling stakes in eight other British nuclear plants, for more than 6bn euros. The company, which has 37bn euro net debt, has some huge investments to make in the coming decades, including an estimated 55bn euros to increase the life expectancy of the 58 nuclear plants in France from their current 40 years to 50. It is also taking a majority stake in Areva’s 2.5bn euros reactor business, which some close to the company said they expected also to be discussed at Wednesday’s meeting. Last week, EDF, which faces increased competition and difficult markets in France, announced plans to cut 5 per cent of its staff over the next three years. It said that it was planning cost cuts of 700m euros by 2018. Francis Raillot, representative of the CFE-CGC, declined to comment on the meeting on Wednesday and which way the union representative would vote, but said that key questions about Hinkley had “still not been answered” by the management. One person close to the deal said he expected the vote to still be carried but that it could be delayed. “We have been here before,” the person said. “I wouldn’t bet my mortgage on the final investment decision being this week, even though that is what the company has been gearing up for.” John Sauven, executive director at Greenpeace, which opposes nuclear power, said: “It is shocking to think that both EDF and the UK government are determined to push ahead with a project that EDF’s own staff say is too risky and too expensive, potentially threatening the survival of the company.”
FT 26th Jan 2016 read more »
The final decision on whether the controversial Hinkley Point C nuclear power station is expected to be made on Wednesday in Paris – with French energy firm EDF wrestling with last-minute jitters over the project. The uncertainty over whether Hinkley C will get the ‘Final Investment Decision’ (FID) go-ahead looks like going right to the moment the board of the state-owned French energy giants meet tomorrow, with conflicting developments even in the past few days. Last week, French regulators delayed a decision on what to do about ‘very serious’ weaknesses detected in the pressure vessel of a nuclear reactor being built at Flamanville in Normandy – one of only two other nuclear stations of the same design under construction in Europe. That uncertainty means the design for Hinkley C still can’t shake off its question marks. The Flamanville plant is five years behind its own schedule and the costs of building it have trebled – something EDF’s board would not want to repeat. Two reactor projects of the same design in China are also thought to be over-running while Europe’s only other one, in Finland, will soon be ten years overdue. In France, the decision has become a political one, with commentators and politicians calling for EDF to backtrack and reports in Paris claiming EDF’s board was ‘panicking’ over the issue.
Western Daily Press 25th Jan 2016 read more »
IT could herald the beginning the Burnham and Highbridge boom. This week EDF are set to announce the start of the massive investment at Hinkley C with a corresponding investment in businesses across Somerset. Hinkley Point officials remain guarded about reports that the Final Investment Decision (FID) is to be made at a board meeting of EDF directors on January 27. Reports in the French media and the trade press suggest that an announcement of giving the project the green light will be made soon after the get-together although officially the company will only say the FID will be made “soon.” Hinkley have insisted the plan is on track with a number of steps that needed to be completed following the investment decision was taken in last autumn and nothing had changed. That view has also been challenged by the main opposition group to the Hinkley C. 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.”
This is the West Country 25th Jan 2016 read more »
The starting gun for Hinkley C could be fired this week. In a ‘make up our minds’ meeting this week Then the biggest business bonanza in Bridgwater’s history will finally begin.
This is the West Country 25th Jan 2016 read more »
These photographs around the area of Hinkley Point were taken by Jacob Dear from Burnham who is studying photography at degree level at Weston College.
This is the West Country 25th Jan 2016 read more »
PLYMOUTH businesses are invited to a major summit to learn how they can benefit from the construction of the proposed £18billion nuclear power station at Hinkley Point. Devon Chamber of Commerce will host the event on Tuesday, February 2, at Plymouth Science Park. Speakers will highlight the opportunities the planned Hinkley Point C offers to the Devon economy, and update those present on the project. Construction of the Somerset power station will be led by French firm EDF, with one-third of the investment cash coming from China.
Plymouth Herald 25th Jan 2016 read more »