Vive le rip-off!
Nuclear power , Issue 1642 Old Sparky writes… TO THE dismay of many, energy secretary Ed Miliband last month quashed parliamentary efforts to make his implausible green targets legally binding and enshrine his "clean energy superpower mission" in law.

After just six months in government, realism (if not defeat) on one of Labour’s core policies has effectively been accepted. Greens are further disturbed by chancellor Rachel Reeves’ explicit prioritisation of economic growth over environmental concerns, Heathrow expansion being a totemic case in point.

Is "growth at any cost" also behind the large amount of cash ministers are throwing at French firm EDF while it ponders whether or not to proceed with its putative new nuke at Sizewell C in Suffolk?

Despite EDF’s assurances Sizewell would be a carbon copy of the ongoing Hinkley Point C project, and that major savings in time and cost would result accordingly (Eyes passim), it has persuaded ministers that £8bn of public money is required up front merely to help it reach a Sizewell decision!

To put this in perspective, the amount of cash budgeted this year by the French government to assist state-owned EDF to develop its next six nukes in France is a paltry €1.1bn (less than £1bn). Clearly the UK government is being played.

French window closed
Meanwhile, as Sizewell project managers whistle anxiously in the dark, the official French auditors have declared that Sizewell should definitely not go ahead unless and until the fiasco of Hinkley Point is resolved and expert staff can be released for Sizewell.

Hinkley having already run grossly over budget and burned through all the cash allocated to it by EDF and its Chinese partners, and notwithstanding its contractual commitment to foot the overspend bill itself, EDF claims the balance must be found elsewhere, in hard cash, if the nuke is to be completed.

In desperation it has already surrendered some of its guaranteed high-price Hinkley electricity contract in return for £1.4bn in upfront cash, and there are suspicions it is using some of the government’s "Sizewell" money for this purpose.

All government departments have been told to prepare for cuts in the upcoming Treasury round. Miliband’s contribution should surely include freezing any more cash for Sizewell, at least until EDF makes a binding decision to proceed.

Sparky’s tenner (as staked in 2020 in Eye 1515) says Sizewell C will never be built.