Hinkley Point C decision ‘next week’

EDF has called its board members to a meeting on 28 July to take a final investment decision on Hinkley Point C.

The meeting follows a 4 July meeting with EDF’s works council, after which EDF said it reconfirmed its confidence in the project. EDF had started  a formal consultation with unions in April and said after the meeting, “The full period of consultation required by law has reached its end and the opinion of the CCE is now considered as having been given.” At the July meeting several trade unions said they were “not in a position to give their opinion about the project”.

At the works council meeting EDF told employee representatives that the result of the UK’s Brexit vote “does not change the fundamental features of the project nor the willingness of those involved to go ahead with it”.

A FID would mean work would move forward but the major phase of building – the reactor itself – would not start for another three years. EDF said “first concrete” for the reactor would be poured in mid-2019.