Nuclear energy: The China syndrome

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UK Only Article: 
UK article only

Issue: 

Dirty secrets

Fly Title: 

Nuclear energy

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Britain’s nuclear plans look over-expensive and over-reliant on China

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20150926_BRP002_0.jpg

POLITICIANS were cleverer back in 1953. When Britain set out to build its first nuclear power station at Calder Hall in Sellafield, the government refused to reveal either how much it would cost or when it would be ready. A mere three-and-a-half years later, at a cost of £35m (equivalent to £780m, or .2 billion, at today’s prices), it opened. It didn’t matter that it generated only a trickle of power. It was hailed around the country as the dawn of an “atomic age”.
George Osborne, the chancellor, should have learned a lesson from that. Already the £24.5 billion project to build a nuclear power station called Hinkley Point C in Somerset is expected to finish over-budget and beyond the projected start date of 2023, if it ever starts at all. But on September 21st, after unveiling in Beijing a £2 billion …
Source: Utilities
Nuclear energy: The China syndrome