A recent self-congratulatory PR campaign by France’s EDF to hail the completion of Hinkley Point C’s foundations (five years behind schedule) while submitting plans to build another UK nuclear plant, Sizewell C — coupled with a 30 May Financial Times article entitled “Britain needs new nuclear, and the government should fund it” — really angered me.
It is time to call in the Resistance, and point out the absurdity of these positions.
1) New nuclear is in desperate need of public money, because no private market wants to touch it
No sensible private finance wants to invest in nuclear due to the industry’s long established disdain for any form of capital discipline.