Keeping the Lights On
Jul 17, 2017 03:26:21 #
Keeping the Lights On
French firm EDF's nuclear project at Hinkley Point in the UK has been in the spotlight, with the National Audit Office's (NAO) scathing critique of its lousy value for money and the conflicts of interest of various players involved, followed by news of yet further budget overruns and delays.
But it is a French National Assembly inquiry revealing deep financial weaknesses at EDF that should give British and Chinese stakeholders at Hinkley the greatest cause for a serious rethink.
The backdrop is EDF's need to start decommissioning its vast fleet of ageing nukes, at astronomical cost. The French inquiry has found EDF is making the lowest financial provision for decommissioning costs of any western nation: only half as much per unit of capacity as Germany, Japan or the US and less than 40% of UK provisions.
The inquiry unearthed a catalogue of EDF failings: ignoring nine out of 15 internationally recognised categories of decommissioning cost; making wildly optimistic assumptions on costs, inflation and technical feasibility; not taking into account site restoration or reprocessing of spent fuel; not matching liabilities with assets as required by French law - and so on.
It sarcastically recounts the story of Brennilis in Brittany, the first EDF nuke actually being decommissioned.
Brennilis operated for 18 years but will take 47 years to dismantle - at a cost of 20 times the original estimate.
The inquiry was not amused by the brush-off it got from EDF on many of its questions, nor by being told the whole French decommissioning programme may take 100 years.
It reckons EDF's total decommissioning fund should be €74bn for safety upgrades in France, more than €20bn for new nuclear waste repository, ever increasing sums for its new nukes at Hinkley and in France (more than tens of billions) - and has €37bn in debt. No wonder EDF is so keen on the £30bn UK subsidy the NAO calculates the Hinkley deal is worth to it.
The upshot is that if EDF is forced to recognise the true cost of decommissioning, it is technically bankrupt.
President François Hallande threatened Teresa May last year when hesitated over signing up for Hinkley. His successor, Emmanuel Macron, will be forced to pass the hat around again.
And we know what May did last time.
Private Eye Magazine.
July 2017
French firm EDF's nuclear project at Hinkley Point in the UK has been in the spotlight, with the National Audit Office's (NAO) scathing critique of its lousy value for money and the conflicts of interest of various players involved, followed by news of yet further budget overruns and delays.
But it is a French National Assembly inquiry revealing deep financial weaknesses at EDF that should give British and Chinese stakeholders at Hinkley the greatest cause for a serious rethink.
The backdrop is EDF's need to start decommissioning its vast fleet of ageing nukes, at astronomical cost. The French inquiry has found EDF is making the lowest financial provision for decommissioning costs of any western nation: only half as much per unit of capacity as Germany, Japan or the US and less than 40% of UK provisions.
The inquiry unearthed a catalogue of EDF failings: ignoring nine out of 15 internationally recognised categories of decommissioning cost; making wildly optimistic assumptions on costs, inflation and technical feasibility; not taking into account site restoration or reprocessing of spent fuel; not matching liabilities with assets as required by French law - and so on.
It sarcastically recounts the story of Brennilis in Brittany, the first EDF nuke actually being decommissioned.
Brennilis operated for 18 years but will take 47 years to dismantle - at a cost of 20 times the original estimate.
The inquiry was not amused by the brush-off it got from EDF on many of its questions, nor by being told the whole French decommissioning programme may take 100 years.
It reckons EDF's total decommissioning fund should be €74bn for safety upgrades in France, more than €20bn for new nuclear waste repository, ever increasing sums for its new nukes at Hinkley and in France (more than tens of billions) - and has €37bn in debt. No wonder EDF is so keen on the £30bn UK subsidy the NAO calculates the Hinkley deal is worth to it.
The upshot is that if EDF is forced to recognise the true cost of decommissioning, it is technically bankrupt.
President François Hallande threatened Teresa May last year when hesitated over signing up for Hinkley. His successor, Emmanuel Macron, will be forced to pass the hat around again.
And we know what May did last time.
Private Eye Magazine.
July 2017
If you want to reply, then register here. Registration is free and your account is created instantly, so you can post right away.