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Hinkley Point: ministers sign go-ahead for nuclear power plant Hinkley Point: ministers sign go-ahead for nuclear power plant
(35 minutes later)
Government ministers from the UK, France and China have attended a signing ceremony giving the final go-ahead for the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station to be built. The UK has signed its £18bn contract with France and China to build the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station, giving the final go-ahead for construction at the site.
The project, which was approved by former prime minister David Cameron but delayed when Theresa May entered Downing Street, will see the first new nuclear power station to be built in the UK in a generation. The deal was finalised at a low-key ceremony in London, just two months after Theresa May alarmed her French and Chinese counterparts by putting the entire project under review. EDF, the French nuclear contractor, and its Chinese partners had to cancel their previous plans for a signing ceremony at the last minute when the review was announced in July.
The board of EDF gave its final investment decision in July but the UK government said it wanted more time to study the details. The government approved the project earlier this month and the signing ceremony completes the process. It finally got approval earlier this month, after Greg Clark, the business secretary, announced there would be some new restrictions on future investments in critical infrastructure if there were national security concerns.
Clark attended the signing ceremony on behalf of the UK, alongside Jean-Bernard Levy, the chairman of EDF, and He Yu, the chairman of China General Nuclear.
The business secretary said it was a “crucial moment in the UK’s first new nuclear power station for a generation and follows new measures put in place by government to strengthen security and ownership”. The event was also attended by Jean-Marc Ayrault, the French foreign minister, and Nur Bekri, a senior official at the National Energy Administration of China.
He Yu said it signifies “CGN’s commitment to the UK as one of the world’s leading developers and operators of nuclear power. This flagship programme is a triple-win for China, Britain, and France and is a culmination of years of cooperation between the three countries. CGN looks forward to providing UK consumers with safe, reliable and sustainable energy and maximising opportunities for UK suppliers and the UK workforce.”
Unions welcomed the development, saying thousands of skilled jobs would now be created, benefiting firms across the UK. It is expected to produce 7GW of electricity when fully operational, enough to power 6m homes and provide 7% of Britain’s electricity needs for 60 years.Unions welcomed the development, saying thousands of skilled jobs would now be created, benefiting firms across the UK. It is expected to produce 7GW of electricity when fully operational, enough to power 6m homes and provide 7% of Britain’s electricity needs for 60 years.
The government published documents detailing the contractual obligations it has entered into, including a “value for money assessment” that allowed ministers to make the decision to proceed with the project. According to the documents, UK-based businesses will benefit from more than 60% of the cost of the project and 26,000 jobs and apprenticeships will be created during construction and after its opening. However, Greenpeace said it was “no wonder the UK government has opted for a ‘champagne-free’ signing ceremony away from public view”.
A so-called contract for difference was signed in London by the business secretary, Greg Clark, EDF chairman, Jean-Bernard Levy, and He Yu, chairman of Chinese firm CGN which has a one-third stake in the scheme. The French foreign minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault, and Chinese energy minister, Nur Bekri, were also in attendance at the event. The environmental group said: “With a stroke of the pen ministers are signing away billions of pounds of billpayers’ money to a project they know is plagued by legal, financial and technical problems. In the unlikely event Hinkley is working sometime in the second half of the next decade, renewable energy will be much cheaper, yet British consumers will still be forced to pay over the odds for nuclear power. It’ll be like being locked into an expensive fixed-rate mortgage as interest rates plummet.”
Clark said: “Signing the contract for difference for Hinkley Point C is a crucial moment in the UK’s first new nuclear power station for a generation and follows new measures put in place by government to strengthen security and ownership. Britain needs to upgrade its supplies of energy, and we have always been clear that nuclear power stations like Hinkley play an important part in ensuring our future low-carbon energy security.” Under the new controls, EDF will not be able to sell on its stake in Hinkley without permission. For future projects, the UK government will own a “special share” that means it will have a veto over owners if there are national security concerns.
In a sign the new requirements do not appear to be overly stringent, both EDF and CGN said they were delighted by the approval, which they claimed would let them proceed with Hinkley and their wider plans for nuclear construction in the UK in future.
The government published documents detailing the contractual obligations it has entered into, including a “value for money assessment” that allowed ministers to make the decision to proceed with the project. According to the documents, UK-based businesses would benefit from more than 60% of the cost of the project and 26,000 jobs and apprenticeships would be created during construction and after its opening.