Hinkley Point C nuclear power station

This article is part of the Nuclear Spin project of Spinwatch.

Hinkley Point C nuclear power station is a proposed £16 billion development in Somerset, England, led by France's EDF Energy.

Background

NNB GenCo was granted a license to proceed with the development on 26 November 2012. Hinkley C will be the first new nuclear power station to be built since Sizewell B in Suffolk, which started generating electricity in 1995.

Partners

• EDF Energy - 45-50 equity
• Areva - 10 per cent equity (to be confirmed)
• China General Nuclear Power Group - deal not yet agreed
• China National Nuclear Corporation - deal not yet agreed

EPR

EDF has proposed to use at Hinkley the same relatively untried 'European Pressurised Reactor' (EPR) technology as at plants being built at Flamanville in France and Olkiuoto in Finland. Both plants have experienced extraordinary cost overruns and lengthy timetable delays.

Planning consent approved

In March 2013 Energy Secretary Ed Davey announced he had given the go-ahead for construction of a new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point C.

The Order will allow, from a planning point of view, NNB Generation Company Limited, a subsidiary of EDF Energy, to construct two European Pressurised Reactors each of a capacity of 1630 megawatts.

It will also enable the company to construct associated development, such as freight handling and road improvements, and to carry out the necessary work to obtain land and rights over land, by compulsory acquisition if necessary.

Resources and Notes

Website:

Resources

• Alistair Osborne, Hinkley Point C is a lousy template for nuclear Britain, The Telegraph, 21 Oct 2013, 5:58PM BST

• Department of Energy & Climate Change, Edward Davey statement on Hinkley Point C nuclear power station An oral statement on the decision to authorise the construction of a three thousand two hundred and sixty megawatt (3260MW) nuclear power station at Hinkley Point, 19 March 2013