[New post] Chinese company likely to be glad to abandon UK’s Hinkley and Bradwell nuclear power projects, as costs jump.

Christina MacPherson posted: "  China could quit UK nuclear projects if role threatened, experts warn.Effort to remove state-owned CGN from Sizewell C said to leave HinkleyPoint and Bradwell developments exposed. China General Nuclear is likely towalk away from the Hinkley Point C pow" Respond to this post by replying above this line New post on nuclear-news Chinese company likely to be glad to abandon UK's Hinkley and Bradwell nuclear power projects, as costs jump. by Christina MacPherson  China could quit UK nuclear projects if role threatened, experts warn. Effort to remove state-owned CGN from Sizewell C said to leave Hinkley Point and Bradwell developments exposed. China General Nuclear is likely to walk away from the Hinkley Point C power station being built in Somerset if the Chinese state-owned nuclear company is forced out of other future projects in the UK, industry experts warned on Monday. The company is already a minority investor in the 3.2 gigawatt Hinkley Point nuclear power station, which France's EDF is building. One nuclear industry executive warned that CGN could now reassess its involvement with Hinkley Point. They pointed out there were four interlinked agreements between CGN, EDF and the government dating to 2015: Hinkley Point, Sizewell, Bradwell and the pursuit of regulatory approval for China's reactor design. Steve Thomas, emeritus professor of energy policy at University of Greenwich, said CGN's investment in Hinkley was designed to make a profit and also help secure its plant at Bradwell. With both of those now in jeopardy, the company could quit the UK, he warned. The Chinese company is eager to getUK regulatory approval at Bradwell for its own Hualong One HPR1000 reactor in order to help market it in other countries. The reactor design is currently going through the UK's rigorous approval process with a decision expected in the second quarter of next year.  But Thomas pointed out that with Hinkley's budget having jumped from £14bn to as much as £22.5bn it was no longer clear whether the consortium would make a profit. "I would have thought that would put it into lossmaking territory," he said. "They may well be very happy for an excuse to get out of it," Thomas said. "If Bradwell is off the agenda and Hinkley Point won't make money, why stick around?" Alison Downes of Stop Sizewell C, a pressure group, said the government's position threw EDF's funding problems for the new plant into sharper relief: "The simple fact is that Sizewell C won't go ahead without new investors," she said.  FT 27th July 2021  https://www.ft.com/content/ada78301-0b2c-4bf5-bcd4-ea0cd55312ae This free site is ad-supported. Learn more ​ Christina MacPherson | July 29, 2021 at 6:45 am | Categories: business and costs, China | URL: https://wp.me/phgse-KNI Comment    See all comments    Like Unsubscribe to no longer receive posts from nuclear-news. Change your email settings at Manage Subscriptions. Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser: http://nuclear-news.net/2021/07/29/chinese-company-likely-to-be-glad-to-abandon-uks-hinkley-and-bradwell-nuclear-power-projects-as-costs-jump/ Thanks for flying with WordPress.com