EDF’s UK Hinkley Nuclear Costs Balloon as Plant Delayed Anew
- Station could cost as much as £10 billion more than planned
- Unit 1 may not start until 2031 in a worst case scenario
Cranes surround Reactor Unit Two on the construction project for Hinkley Point C nuclear power station.
Photographer: Luke MacGregor/BloombergElectricite de France SA’s nuclear project at Hinkley Point in the UK will cost as much as £10 billion ($13 billion) extra to build and take several years longer than planned, the latest in a series of setbacks for the budget and timetable of the country’s largest energy project.
EDF now expects the two reactors it’s building in southwest England to cost between £31 billion and £35 billion in 2015 terms, the French energy company said in a statement on Tuesday. That’s up from an estimate of £25 billion to £26 billion in 2022, and is the fifth budget increase in eight years. At today’s prices, the project would cost as much as £46 billion, according to the Bank of England’s inflation calculator.