The chair of the Commons Select Committee on Energy and Climate Change (ECCC) has written to secretary of state Amber Rudd to raise concerns about the delays in taking a Final Investment Decision on a new nuclear plant at Hinkley Point C.
The letter asked what pressure the government will bring to bear on the French government to ensure the decision – now expected in May – was in accord with the UK’s aims. Chair Angus MacNeil MP warned that EDF Energy chief executive Vincent de Rivaz would be recalled to give further evidence to the committee if the decision was delayed further.
The committee also wanted to know what the UK’s cost liability would be if the reactor was cancelled – either by the UK or French side.
Meanwhile the union representing EDF workers in France has raised its own concerns in a letter to the committee. Raising 15 questions also raised with the French government, union leaders said French taxpayers and workers are bearing too much of the project’s risk and cost. It proposed that a special purpose vehicle should be set up with British financial partners, “to consolidate the debt”.
It also said that while EDF Energy had promised British jobs for the project no such undertakings had been given in France.
See the full correspondence here
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