UK nuclear plant hit by new multiyear delay and could cost up to £46bn

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Britain’s flagship Hinkley Point C nuclear plant has been delayed until 2029 at the earliest, with the cost spiralling to as much as £46bn, in the latest blow to a project at the heart of the country’s long-term energy plans.

The surging bill and slipping schedule, announced on Tuesday by the French state-owned operator and constructor EDF, will put pressure on the UK government to provide extra financial support for the project. 

EDF, which has also experienced long delays on recent parallel projects in Finland and France that use the same reactor technology, blamed the latest problems at Hinkley in Somerset on the complexity of installing electromechanical systems and intricate piping. Hinkley was previously delayed due to construction disruption during Covid pandemic.

Under EDF’s latest scenario, one of the two planned reactors at Hinkley Point C could be ready in 2029, a two-year hold-up compared with the company’s previous estimate of 2027. But it could be further delayed to 2031 in adverse conditions, EDF said. It did not give an estimate for the second reactor. 

EDF said the cost would now be between £31bn-£35bn based on 2015 prices, depending on when Hinkley Point C was completed. In today’s prices, the cost would balloon to as much as £46bn. The initial budget was £18bn, with a scheduled completion date of 2025.

Hinkley is expected to provide power to more than 5mn UK homes, and is crucial for the country’s future energy provision.

The twin-reactor scheme in Somerset is the first in a new generation of nuclear power stations intended to provide “baseload” electricity as the UK becomes more reliant on intermittent renewable energy from the wind and the sun. 

The latest setbacks at Hinkley come amid broader concerns among some critics of the nuclear industry over whether the sector is well equipped to deliver on…