Hinkley Point C faces additional four-year multi-billion pound delay

Completion of the Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant has been delayed by up to four more years at the cost of billions of pounds, according to its manufacturers.

France’s state energy company EDF, which operates all of the UK’s five active nuclear power stations, said the project’s launch date has been pushed from June 2027.

Three different scenarios forecast by the company see the reactors not coming online until 2029, 2030 or 2031 in the worst possible scenario.

Additionally, the project’s bill is set to run up to around £46bn when adjusted for inflation on the 2015 estimates of £31-34bn.

This marks more than double the initial budget of £18bn for a plant that was scoped to come online in 2017.

In December, EDF’s partner in the project, China General Nuclear (CGN), had halted funding for the site after the uk government took over CGN’s stake in Hinkley’s proposed sister site, Sizewell C in Suffolk.

In a note to Hinkley project staff, Stuart Crooks, managing director of Hinkley Point C, said: “Like other infrastructure projects, we have found civil construction slower than we hoped and faced inflation, labour and material shortages – on top of COVID and Brexit disruption.”

Though the government’s nuclear roadmap was released last week, the sector seems to remain absent of the positive forward momentum it has been crying out for.

Nearly all existing stock is set to come offline by 2030, Sizewell C remains in the pre-construction phase and the government has outlined plans for a new major reactor that might not be switched on for over a decade.