UK and France: Nuclear power gets £10bn financial guarantee boost

Ministers respond to warnings that UK is on brink of power blackouts with support for French generator EDF to build Hinkley Point nuclear power plant.

The government has responded to warnings that Britain is on the brink of power blackouts by announcing £10bn in financial guarantees to the nuclear power industry – a concession aimed at paving the way for the building of the first new reactor in the country for a generation.

The support for French generator EDF, which is in negotiations to build the Hinkley Point nuclear power station, was announced by the Treasury chief secretary, Danny Alexander, as the centrepiece of a £100bn package of infrastructure investment covering 2015-20, including new roads, schools and affordable homes.
Michael Fallon, the energy minister, insisted the substantial guarantees represented a commercial loan, not a subsidy, saying: "This is big-scale financing, not available in the markets." He added that similar government guarantees had been offered to Drax power station to convert from coal to biomass.

EDF had already prepared the site next to the two existing stations, but would not commit to the project unless the government guaranteed a minimum price for the electricity the new reactor would produce.

The news came as Ofgem, the energy regulator, said the statistical probability of major power shortages in the UK would increase to about once in 12 years in 2015, from once in 47 years now, as a result of closing power plants. About a fifth of Britain's power generation capacity is scheduled to close in the next decade, including all but one nuclear plant.

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French Support for Nuclear Power Rises Ahead of Law, Poll Shows

French public support for nuclear power is rising ahead of recommendations on a new energy policy law for the country, as fears about its dangers fade.

Some 36 percent of people surveyed said they favored France’s use of nuclear power with only 14 percent saying they opposed it, an Ifop poll released today for the newspaper Ouest France showed. That compares with 32 percent in favor of nuclear power and 20 percent opposed in July 2011.

Concerns about nuclear power rose in France after a March 2011 earthquake and subsequent tsunami crippled Japan’s Fukushima Dai-Ichi power plant, causing three reactor core meltdowns, forcing about 160,000 people to evacuate and leaving about 132 square kilometers as a no-go zone.

French President Francois Hollande has pledged to cut the country’s reliance on nuclear power. Electricite de France SA’s 58 atomic reactors currently provide more than three-quarters of electricity, a proportion Hollande vowed to reduce to 50 percent by around 2025.

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EDF Starts Penly-2 Nuclear Reactor

Electricite de France SA started its Penly-2 nuclear power plant yesterday after an unplanned halt, according to data on the website of grid operator Reseau de Transport d’Electricite.

EDF plans to start its Cruas-1 and Chooz B-2 nuclear power plants on Aug. 13, RTE data show. The company’s 1,300-megawatt Cattenom-4 unit was scheduled to start on Aug. 5 after an unplanned halt on May 29. The reactor was not generating at 12 p.m. Paris time, RTE data show.

EDF, the world’s biggest nuclear power plant operator, has 39 reactors online, representing 67 percent of available nuclear capacity, RTE data show. EDF’s 58 atomic plants generate about 78 percent of the country’s power.

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Scots May Extend Life of Reactors to Ease Move to Renewables

Scotland may extend the life of the country’s two nuclear plants, which are operated by Electricite de France SA (EDF), to help the transition to producing all of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020.

The Scottish government said today it still plans to phase out nuclear power over time and rely on cleaner thermal energy to reduce carbon emissions, according to an e-mailed statement setting out its draft energy strategy. It said it was on track to meet the target in eight years time.

“This does not preclude extending the operating life of Scotland’s existing nuclear stations to help maintain security of supply over the next decade,” it said. “Subject to the relevant safety cases being made, the government would not oppose operating life extension applications at these sites.”

The Scottish administration in Edinburgh, which is campaigning for independence from the rest of Britain, has the most ambitious target in the European Union for generating electricity from wind, hydro and marine energy. Its nuclear policy differs from the U.K. government, which has agreed to build more power stations as part of its strategy of meeting EU targets to cut carbon emissions.

Electricite de France is planning to submit plans to extend the operating life of the Torness and Hunterston plants in Scotland by at least five years, the government said. Hunterston, which is situated on the west coast south of Glasgow, is otherwise due to close in 2016. Torness, which is east of Edinburgh, is scheduled to shut in 2023.

Scotland intends to de-carbonize all electricity generation by 2030 through the use of carbon capture deploying empty offshore aquifers that previously held oil and gas.

The government also plans to have 11 percent of heat generated by renewable energy by 2020, almost four times the current level of 2.8 percent. Heat accounts for about half of Scotland’s current energy consumption.

Scotland, the windiest country in Europe, accounts for 25 percent of EU offshore wind capability, the same proportion of tidal power and 10 percent of wave power, the government said.

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