‘We have to acknowledge that a nuclear power plant is an extremely complicated machine,” says Humphrey Cadoux-Hudson. The man responsible for EDF Energy’s nuclear renaissance is preaching to the converted. In London’s Guild Hall nuclear developers and investors from Britain, France and China are focused on one thing: arresting the decline of the nuclear industry by resurrecting a technology which could provide clean power to a new generation tackling air pollution and climate change. “This is the journey that we’re on, to drive down the cost of construction and establish a new way of looking at financing new nuclear. The result will be very attractive for nuclear in the low carbon energy mix.” “That’s why I am very clear about Sizewell; it’s going to be a copy – as close as we can possibly make it – of Hinkley Point, so that we have a design complete before anyone goes anywhere near starting construction on the site,” says Mr Cadoux-Hudson. “That’s what we need in order to get to this next stage to work with the supply chain.” But financing nuclear projects remains a vicious circle of uncertainty and cost: for costs to fall major investments in multiple nuclear projects will be needed, but for investors to take up the bet there needs to be a reliable stream of returns and strong government support. Alongside its talks over the Wylfa project the Government will begin talks with other developers hoping to build reactors in the UK, including EDF Energy, to establish a Regulated Asset Base (RAB) mechanism to finance future projects.
Telegraph 10th June 2018 read more »
