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EDF boss 'quits' energy giant over plans to build Hinkley Point UK nuclear power plant EDF boss 'quits' energy giant over plans to build Hinkley Point UK nuclear power plant
(about 13 hours later)
The chief financial officer of EDF has resigned over the French energy giant's plans to build the first new nuclear power plant in the UK in decades, according to reports. A senior executive of the French energy giant EDF has resigned because the company refused to postpone building of the Hinkley Point  power station in Somerset which is supposed to “keep the lights on”  in Britain in the next decade.
Thomas Piquemal quit because of concerns that a final decision on investment for a new reactor at Hinkley Point will be made too soon, potentially threatening EDF's financial position, sources told the Financial Times. Thomas Piquemal, financial director of EDF, pulled the plug last week after the company refused to delay the project for three years until technological and financing problems were sorted out.
The company, which is 85% owned by the French government, recently made assurances that it was close to making a decision on the proposed Hinkley Point C project in Somerset. It is now expected that EDF, 85 per cent owned by the French state, will take its much delayed decision to push ahead with the £18bn project early next month. At their summit in Amiens last Thursday, the French President Francois Hollande and the Prime Minister, David Cameron restated their commitment to a project, which is supposed to generate seven per cent of the UK’s electricity by 2025.
An EDF spokeswoman declined to comment on the reports. EDF shares fell by 8 per cent at the opening of the Paris bourse on Monday when the company confirmed that Mr Piquemal had resigned last Thursday – the same day as the Franco-British summit. One of his assistants, Xavier Girre, has been appointed as his interim replacement.
Labour has urged the UK Government to draw up a plan B in case EDF scraps the project. An internal report to the EDF board warned last month that it would be impossible for technical reasons to complete the two “new generation” nuclear reactors at Hinkley within the nine year timetable. The report also suggested that the project could be financially disastrous for the struggling French company, despite a commitment by the UK government to pay double the market rate for Hinkley’s electricity.
Shadow energy secretary Lisa Nandy said on Friday that the future of nuclear energy in Britain "cannot just be about Hinkley Point C". Although China has agreed to invest Pounds 6.2bn in Hinkley Point, EDF has failed to find other backers leaving it responsible for two thirds of the cost. Problems with the building of similar high pressure water reactors in Finland and Normandy have led EDF unions and senior executives to recommed a three year delay – until a new genberation of technology become available.
She said the project had been "hit by one delay after another" and highlighted the lack of a final investment decision. Mr Piquemal is reported to have made a last ditch attempt to win a three years delay last week and resigned when the EDF chief executive Jean-Bernard Lévy, insisted on going ahead next month.
"Given the power crunch we face, it is increasingly clear ministers need a plan B in case it is never built," Ms Nandy said.  Paris and London are reported to have applied intense pressure on EDF to stand by the project, despite doubts about the compay's own finances.
After a summit in France last month, Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Francois Hollande issued a communique that said there had been "major progress" in recent months "with a view to confirming the project". The British government would face huge embarrassment if Hinkley Point,  intended as the first of three new mega power stations, was abandoned or postponed. In October last year, China agreed, amid much fanfare in London and Beijing, to invest Euros 8bn (Pounds 6.2bn) in the project.
EDF also said it will extend the life of four of its UK nuclear power stations by between five and seven years. In September, the Chancellor George Osborne said Hinkley Point was a central part of the government’s strategy to “make sure the lights stay on”.
PA “The current generation of nuclear power stations are coming to the end of their life. That’s going to create a very big hole in our base electricity supply unless we do something about it,” he told a House of Lords committee.