France’s state-owned project developer partly blames disruption caused by Covid pandemic and Brexit.
The UK’s flagship Hinkley Point C nuclear power station has been delayed until 2029 at the earliest, with the cost potentially increasing to as much as £46bn (€53bn) at today’s prices and developer EDF blaming Covid, Brexit and inflation.
Under French state-owned EDF’s latest scenario, one of the two planned units at Hinkley Point C, in Somerset, southwest England, could be operational in 2029, a two-year delay compared with the company’s previous estimate of 2027.
But it could be further delayed to 2031 in adverse conditions, EDF said. The company did not give an estimate for the second unit.
EDF, which is supplying two EPR units for the facility, said the cost would now be between £31bn-£35bn based on 2015 prices, depending on when Hinkley Point C was completed. The BBC said that in today’s prices, the cost could rise to as much as £46bn. The initial budget was £18bn, with a scheduled completion date of 2025.
Hinkley Point C had already been delayed by construction disruption during the Covid pandemic.
The revised estimates come after the government recently announced ambitions for what it called the biggest expansion in nuclear power for 70 years and committed an extra £1.3bn to support the construction of two EPR plants at Sizewell C in southeast England.
In a letter to staff, Stuart Crooks, the managing director of Hinkley Point C, said there were 7,000 substantial design changes required by British regulations that needed to be made to the site, with 35% more steel and 25% more concrete needed than originally planned.
The project has also faced severe delays because of supply chains being hit during the pandemic, as well as labour shortages.
“Going first to restart the nuclear construction industry in Britain after a 20-year pause has been hard,” Crooks wrote.
Inflation, Labour And Material Shortages
“Like other major infrastructure projects, we have found civil construction slower than we hoped and faced inflation, labour and material shortages, on top of Covid and Brexit disruption,” he added.
EDF also blamed the latest problems on the complexity of installing electromechanical systems and intricate piping.
Crooks pointed out, however, that UK bill payers will not be directly affected by those building and cost time overruns.
EDF agreed to shoulder the risk and pay the full cost of construction, including any increases. This was in return for an agreed electricity price – known as a strike price – that was substantially higher than the average price in 2015 and would only rise in line with inflation.
EDF said in a statement that over recent months, the Hinkley Point C project has achieved a series of big milestones including the lifting into place of the dome on Unit 1, the detailed design for the next phase of electromechanical work and delivery of 70% of the equipment to be installed on Unit 1. The company said the steam generators have been built and are ready for delivery and testing of the UK instrumentation and control system is underway.
EDF has experienced delays on recent parallel EPR projects at Finland’s Olkiluoto-3 and Flamanville-3 in France. Olkiluoto-3 began commercial operation in May 2023 while Flamanville-3 is not yet online.
Tom Greatrex, chief executive of the London-based Nuclear Industry Association, said the more nuclear stations we build the quicker and cheaper it will become. Instead of building one plant at a time with long gaps in between projects, a programmatic approach, as outlined in the government’s nuclear roadmap, is vital to ensure we build expertise, maintain workforce capability and increase efficiency.
“Hinkley Point C is the most significant green energy project ever in the UK and represents the revival of an industry after a generation of not building any new plants,” Greatrex said. “Hinkley Point C is an integral part of the UK’s route to energy security and decarbonisation, and will continue to provide firm, clean power and jobs well into the second half of this century and beyond.
“What is important now is that we act with pace and scale alongside other clean energy technologies as we shift towards a net zero future.”
Alison Downes of the campaign group Stop Sizewell C said: “The government should cancel Sizewell C instead of handing over scarce billions that could be used instead for renewables, energy efficiency or – in this general election year – schools and hospitals.”
Once Hinkley Point C is complete, it is expected to generate enough electricity to supply some six million homes, for the next 60 years.
Background: Falling Output, No New Plants
The share of nuclear energy in the UK’s electricity generation has fallen to around 15% from 27% in the 1990s as older plants have been decommissioned and no new plants have come online.
The output of the UK’s fleet of nine units was 37.3 TWh last year, 15% lower than the year before because of station closures and statutory outages.
Since 2000, the UK has seen permanent reactor shutdowns at Bradwell, Calder Hall, Hinkley Point A, Hinkley Point B, Hunterston, Oldbury, Sizewell, Chapelcross, Dungeness and Wylfa. The last unit to go offline was Hinkley Point B-1 in August 2022.
The government and EDF started a process last year to bring private equity investment into the planned Sizewell C project, with EDF saying a sustainable commercial model is needed for a final investment decision.
Earlier this month, EDF’s UK division EDF Energy said it is planning to extend the life of four nuclear power stations in the UK and invest £1.3bn in its nuclear fleet as it aims to maintain UK nuclear output at current levels until at least 2026.
The French energy company said it would make a decision on whether to extend the life of the four advanced gas-cooled reactor stations – Torness, Heysham A and B, and Hartlepool A – by the end of the year. This would require regulatory approval.
EDF Energy operates all of Britain’s five nuclear power stations that generate electricity. A further three are defuelling (Hunterston B, Hinkley Point B and Dungeness B), the first stage of decommissioning.