[ad_1]
In November, Prime Minister Boris Johnson outlined his “10 point plan” for a “green industrial revolution” which will create and support up to 250,000 British jobs. Number three on that list was researching “clean” nuclear energy and “developing the next generation of small and advanced reactors”. One way the Government hopes to achieve this is through the construction of Hinkley Point C in Somerset – a nuclear power plant due to open in June 2026 which will cost as much as £23billion.
It will feature in a new BBC documentary tonight – ‘Building Britain’s Biggest Nuclear Power Station’ – which will go behind the scenes to capture the action at the construction site.
France has been supplying electricity to the UK through an undersea cable since the Eighties, and EDF took a leap into the UK energy retail market in 1998 when it bought London Electricity.
A decade later it paid £12.5billion for British Energy, the financially troubled owner of the country’s nuclear power fleet, including Hinkley Point C.
EDF now produces about a fifth of the UK’s power and it has more capacity in Britain than in any market outside France.
And it could be set to have more of a grip on Britain.
Hinkley Point C is being constructed by EDF, who owns two-thirds of the plant along with Chinese state-owned company CGN.
And there are some concerns over this ‘dependence’ from the UK.
In May, the Royal Navy’s HMS Tamar and HMS Severn stood guard off of Jersey after France threatened to cut off its electricity – 95 percent of which was reportedly imported from EDF.
Speaking at the time, Dr Paul Dorfman at the UCL Energy Institute, said Brexit Britain will “continue to be dependent, politically, culturally, technologically and in terms of energy” on other nations.
READ MORE: ‘Stabbed in back’ UK bailed France out in Mali, only for Macron to spark Jersey chaos
“If we’d put the money into renewables from the outset, we would already have a return on our investment.
“Renewables are already, at most, half the price of Hinkley, and while Hinkley will only get dearer, the cost of renewable energy will only come down.”
Other contractors on the Hinkley Point C expansion include Wood PLC, Altrad, Balfour Beatty Bailey, Cavendish Nuclear and Doosan Babcock.
There have been calls for Britain to be “self-sufficient” in energy production as it sets its sights on being Net-Zero by 2050.
Of the Big Six energy suppliers in the UK, four are foreign-owned.
Project managing director Stuart Crooks previously said in a statement: “Hinkley Point C plays a vital role in the fight against climate change and this report shows the project is also able to create jobs and opportunity for British people and businesses.
“As we come out of the pandemic, we hope to safely increase the numbers working on the project and create jobs just as they are needed most.
“Our big investment in local education and training means we are ready to help people find work and start new careers.”
Express.co.uk has recently launched its Green Britain campaign to help save the UK’s environment.
We are calling on Prime Minister Boris Johnson to show world leadership on the issue in the run-up to the G7 summit in Cornwall in June and the crunch Cop 26 climate change summit in Glasgow in November.
Along with green entrepreneur Dale Vince we have called on the Government to scrap VAT on green products and to make more space for nature.
[ad_2]
