Old design puts UK’s nuclear future in doubt

Britain’s Hinkley Point nuclear power station is five years behind schedule and will end up costing more than twice its original budget. EDF, the main French contractor, won the job with a price estimate of £18 billion and a completion date of 2025. The company’s latest guess is that the first two reactors won’t come onstream until 2029 at the earliest and that the final cost will be at least £46 billion. EDF is contracted to absorb that cost itself. Some of it will in practice be met by high wholesale prices already negotiated with the UK government, but the spiralling budget should be cause for heads in hands in Whitehall and at EDF HQ. Britain’s efforts to rebuild its nuclear power capacity are beginning to recall Nasa’s bid to revive its brand after the glory days of the moon landings. Hardware that worked well in the white heat of the technological revolution has been updated, made more complex and is now defeating the best that 21st century engineering can offer. The Hinkley Point design has been rolled out before but barely modified despite costly cracks appearing in concrete and steel casings in Finland and France. Wind and solar, anyone?