EDF Energy to cut jobs to control cost of building nuclear power station
Source: Guardian
Company stops preparation of Hinkley Point site as negotiations continue over public subsidy for developing £14bn project
EDF energy is cutting scores of jobs to control costs at the site of its proposed new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point in Somerset. The company is in the middle of difficult negotiations with ministers over the level of public subsidy the new reactors will receive over the next 40 years but insisted the project is not being mothballed and that it is not "holding a gun to the government's head".
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But the two sides have been unable to agree on the subsidy the plant would receive, paid for by consumers through their energy bills. EDF had originally said it would make its final investment decision by the end of 2012. Both sides have a great deal to lose, but as the negotiations have dragged on observers have suggested the likelihood of the government abandoning plans for a series of new nuclear plants.
"It is proving extremely difficult to get that first nuclear power plant built and there is an increasing feeling in industry that at £14bn a throw there is no chance of getting beyond one," said Lord Robin Teverson, the LibDem spokesman on energy in the House of Lords.
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EDF and the government face a number of major obstacles in delivering new reactors even beyond the challenging financing. The project has yet to be approved by the European Union, which limits the state aid that can be given to industrial projects. The UK also has no site for the long term disposal of nuclear waste, after the rejection of a proposal in Cumbria by local councils. Such a facility was considered a prerequisite for the building of new reactors by David Cameron before the 2010 election.
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Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/apr/23/edf-energy-nuclear-power-station
AndyTiedye
(23,500 posts)insisted the project is not being mothballed and that it is not "holding a gun to the government's head".
Rain Mcloud
(812 posts)I'm late for my weekly chest X-Ray,you got to excuse me i get a little emotional about radiation.
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