EDF claim Hinkley Point nuclear power station is on track, despite rumours

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Source: Western Daily Press

EDF yesterday issued an extraordinary statement criticising anonymous sources briefing against the Hinkley Point C nuclear reactor project.

The French energy giant faces substantial opposition within elements of its own company and from powerful French unions over the £18 billion project in Somerset.

They fear that the project could put the viability of state-owned EDF at risk. A story, published in The Financial Times, claimed that senior engineers at EDF wanted the project delayed by at least two years and for the reactor design to be changed – making it simpler and cheaper to build.

But EDF issued a strongly worded statement yesterday over the reports.

It said: "In recent days, a number of unfounded rumours and fanciful stories, from anonymous sources, have been put out in the media.

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Read more: http://www.westerndailypress.co.uk/EDF-claim-Hinkley-Point-nuclear-power-station/story-29026031-detail/story.html

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1. Financial Times reports posted in Good Reads

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1016150002

edit to add: adding them to this thread because they are so good.

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2. Engineers are telling the truth about Hinkley Point

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/bec7189e-f64e-11e5-96db-fc683b5e52db.html

Engineers are telling the truth about Hinkley Point

Nick Butler
March 30, 2016 10:50 am

When did a major investment decision last go ahead successfully against the explicit advice of a company’s engineers? Politicians can dream up and try to force through projects, economists can put in place assumptions that make them look attractive, but in the end it is engineers who have to deliver. Their voice is decisive.

That is the point we have reached in the tortuous saga of Hinkley Point. The latest judgment from EDF’s engineers is not surprising. Internal opposition to the project to build another reactor to the same design as those under construction in Flamanville in northern France and Olkiluoto in Finland has always been strong. If those projects have not been completed, why take on all the risks of another?

Hinkley has never had the support of a majority of the EDF board. The difference now is that the doubts are out in public and can hardly be dismissed as coming from anti-nuclear campaigners or people hostile to all things French. The simple fact is that serious professional engineers do not believe that Hinkley can be built to the present design.

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3. Dissenting EDF engineers urge delay to Hinkley nuclear project

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/2ef61abe-f5b1-11e5-96db-fc683b5e52db.html

Dissenting EDF engineers urge delay to Hinkley nuclear project

By Michael Stothard in Paris
March 29, 2016 9:58 pm

Senior engineers at French utility EDF have called for at least a two year delay at the controversial Hinkley Point nuclear project in the UK and recommended a redesign of the reactor technology.

An internal white paper written by dissenting EDF engineers, which has been seen by the Financial Times, argues that Hinkley Point is so complex and untested that the company should announce a later completion date than the target of 2025.

The paper, circulated among top executives, said that the “realistic service date was 2027” due to the size of the project, continuing design modifications to the European Pressurised Reactor system and the “very low” competency of French supplier Areva in making some of the large components.

The white paper also made the case for a “new EPR”, calling on the company to redesign the current reactor technology to make it smaller, cheaper to build and less complicated.

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One person on the EDF board who had read the white paper said: “Few believe that we can build this by 2025 any more.”

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