Published on : Sep 21, 2015
The plans regarding the beginning of the construction of the Hinkley C nuclear power plant neared an edge when British politician and Chancellor of Exchequer George Osborne announced that the UK has decided to guarantee a 2 billion euro loan guarantee on a visit to China.
Under the 2 billion euro guarantee deal, China will also invest in the Hinkley Point project, which is estimated to be worth around 24.5 billion euro. Électricité de France S.A. (EDF) has welcomed the news which it is hoping to pave the way for a final decision regarding investment for the French energy company.
This initial loan guarantee is projected to be a start of many such investments if the proposed nuclear power plant to be built in Somerset proceeds.
EDF had announced in February that it was pushing back its decision regarding investments in the nuclear power plant.
The plant is expected to begin a phase of more collaboration in China and the UK on the construction of many new nuclear power stations.
The deal will also help improve the work being carried out under a MoU regarding the fuel cycle collaboration that was signed with China in 2014, and which has the caliber of leveraging UK’s expertise in managing and decommissioning waste as well as of supporting UK growth.
During the coming 10 year duration, Britain is projected to face the need for replacing nearly 1/4th of its power generation capacity owing to the many ageing nuclear power plants and many coal power plants nearing their retiring. The new Hinkley Point power plant will help the UK in achieving this replacement efficiently.
Chancellor George Osborne stated that power generation with the help of nuclear power has low carbon impact on the environment and is also cost competitive. He added that nuclear power is an important part of our energy mix, along with other novel power generation sources such as shale gas