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France’s state auditor has said French nuclear company EDF should not make a final investment decision on the UK’s Sizewell C reactor project until it reduces its exposure to its other British development, Hinkley Point C.
The Cour des Comptes also said state-owned EDF must ensure that any international project is profitable and must not delay the program of new nuclear projects in France.
The auditors’ comments on Tuesday came just hours after the Financial Times reported that the cost of building the Sizewell C project in Suffolk was likely to reach £40bn, double the estimate in 2020.
The new figure reflects rising construction costs as well as the implications of delays and cost overruns at sister site Hinkley in Somerset.
Delaying a final investment decision by EDF could further hamper the project and lead to even greater cost increases.
The UK government and EDF, the original backers of Sizewell C, have been trying to raise billions of pounds from new investors, with a final investment decision now delayed until at least the spring.
Asked about the FT report, the Cour de Comptes said the increase seemed “logical” given cost overruns in other such projects.
The Cour des Comptes also recommended that any final investment decisions on the EPR2 programs – the technology on which Hinkley Point C and other new reactors are based – should be held back until funding is secured and detailed studies are carried out to evaluate the projects.
This could lead to a more cautious approach by EDF towards six more EPR2 reactors in France, which were announced by French President Emmanuel Macron in 2022. The Cour des comptes estimated the bill for these plants to be almost 80 billion euros.
The Cour des comptes also criticized the long-delayed Flamanville project in northern France, which recently started providing electricity to the grid, 12 years behind schedule.
Cour des Comptes president Pierre Moscovici said he foresees an “average profit” for the project with the data he has, adding that EDF had refused to provide him with information about the plant’s profitability. He predicted that the energy group would never recoup its capital investment.
The concerns come as France has pledged to build six more new reactors domestically in the coming decades to meet its electricity needs – an ambitious and costly goal that critics say will be nearly impossible to achieve. fulfilled.
In the UK, questions over Sizewell’s future will add to concerns about the British government’s strategy for a nuclear power revival, which aims to generate a stable “baseload” as the electricity system transitions to a dependency much larger than permanent renewable energy.
The first new power plant was supposed to be Hinkley Point C, which was originally scheduled to be completed by 2017, but was later pushed back to 2025.
Early last year, EDF admitted that the Somerset scheme would not be completed until at least 2029, with the cost running up to £46bn.
The French company then blamed the complexity of installing electromechanical systems and intricate piping for the latest problems.
EDF did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Cour des Comptes report.
