Deal to build UK nuclear plant should be finalised within weeks

[FBaggins]

A £25bn contract to build the UK’s first new nuclear power plant in 25 years is expected to be signed within weeks.

Ministers in the Department of Energy and Climate Change have reached an agreement with the French energy company EDF to develop Hinkley Point C, near Bridgwater in Somerset, and are ready to approve the project after parliament’s summer recess.

The Guardian understands that David Cameron and China’s president, Xi Jinping, are expected to sign the deal at a meeting in the UK in October.

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/aug/04/deal-to-build-uk-nuclear-plant-should-be-finalised-within-weeks

[Ghost Dog]

1. Extremely bad deal. Except for paid-off pols...

... government has agreed to pay £92.50 per megawatt hour (MWh) of electricity generated for the 35 years of the contract. This is well above the current wholesale price of electricity, which is about £50 per MWh.

The HSBC report said that European wholesale electricity prices are expected to fall from this level over the contract period, resulting in a “huge difference between UK forward prices and the Hinkley price”. This cost will ultimately be paid for in consumer bills.

Ministers say the subsidy represents value for money as it is the only realistic way of reducing UK carbon emissions while ensuring a consistency of supply...

Bullshit. And no account taken of cost of safe (ie. impossible) disposal of waste produced, nor eventual decomissioning costs, not to mention the uninsurable consequences of major 'accident'/military strikes/etc... For all of which the poor, who are most tax-payers, currently pay.

[FBaggins]

2. Sorry, that's incorrect

Bullshit. And no account taken of cost of safe (ie. impossible) disposal of waste produced, nor eventual decomissioning costs, not to mention the uninsurable consequences of major 'accident'/military strikes/etc... For all of which the poor, who are most tax-payers, currently pay.

The cost does include waste disposal and decommissioning costs... most western countries require that.

Yes - the agreed-upon price is higher than what is currently charges (though lower than many expect it to be 40 years from now)... but it's also lower than the price that they offered solar and wind, and nobody appears to have taken them up on the offer. There's no way to get around the fact that coal and gas are going to be cheaper than the cleaner options. Nuclear at least has the opportunity to stay at a given price if/when fossil fuels shoot up in price (either due to depletion... or inflation... or regulatory action against carbon).

[Ghost Dog]

3. If the £25bn includes waste disposal and decommissioning costs,

can you tell me how much is budgeted for each?

Can you tell me how and where the persistent waste will be safely permanently stored? - As far as I am aware there are no such facilities anywhere except perhaps in Sweden.

What of insurance covering the possible consequences if/when something goes disastrously wrong?

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. It's higher than the solar and onshore wind prices

though lower than offshore wind:

The two projects were awarded an average strike price – the level of subsidy set by the government – of £117 per MWh in a competitive auction.
...
There are 15 onshore wind projects totalling around 730MW that have been supported by the CfD auction, at a strike price of around £80 per MWh, £15/MWh less than the draft strike price.

And solar has fared better than industry anticipated – solar was in the same pool as onshore wind for the auction and there were concerns it wouldn’t be able to compete on price.

Five solar projects have been funded, totalling around 72MW, at a strike price of £50 – 79/MWh depending on delivery year – compared to a draft strike price of £120/MWh.

The two projects were awarded an average strike price – the level of subsidy set by the government – of £117 per MWh in a competitive auction.

http://energydesk.greenpeace.org/2015/02/26/government-renewables-subsidies-show-costs-declining/