Hinkley Point C: wasteful, dangerous and polluting

Flamanville nuclear power plant in France is beset by safety and funding problems, and uses the same untested technology as Hinkley C, photo by schoella (Creative Commons) (Click to enlarge)

Richard Worth, Socialist Party South West

Theresa May has given the go-ahead to build the £18 billion 'Hinkley Point C' in Somerset, the UK's first new nuclear power station in 20 years.

French firm EDF, with China General Nuclear, are guaranteed £92.50 per megawatt-hour of electricity. That's more than double the current price, rising with inflation for 35 years.

The National Audit Office says consumers will pay £30 billion through higher bills to subsidise EDF. A former Tory energy secretary described the deal as "one of the worst ever".

Hinkley C will be an unproven 'European pressurised reactor' (EPR) - nicknamed 'enormous problems to resolve' by the French press.

An EPR is being built at Flamanville, where France's nuclear safety authority found weaknesses in the reactor's steel. It's three times over budget, and six years behind schedule. 1,000 jobs have been cut to save €1 billion, compromising safety. In Finland another EPR is ten years late.

With falling UK energy production, Hinkley C won't be ready to meet the energy gap.

A nuclear power station isn't a green or sustainable energy source. Its construction is far more carbon-intensive than renewable plants. The ongoing mining and milling of uranium ore produces huge amounts of carbon too. And scientists believe uranium could start to run short in just 50 years.

Frances O'Grady, general secretary of the Trade Union Congress, welcomed Hinkley C for jobs. But this ignores the dangers and costs for workers and their families.

'Stop Hinkley' campaign spokesperson Roy Pumfrey said: "The few permanent jobs Hinkley might generate aren't worth the exorbitant cost. Developing renewables will generate many more permanent jobs than Hinkley Point C ever will."

The Tories have cut subsidies to renewable energies. For the £30 billion subsidy to EDF, free solar panels to 7.5 million households could be funded. The power of Hinkley C could be provided by four big wind farms.

Private energy companies, interested only in profit, cannot provide us with safe, affordable energy. Only by taking them into public ownership, under democratic workers' control and management, can our needs be met with clean renewable energy.

Donate to the Socialist Party

Finance appeal

The coronavirus crisis has laid bare the class character of society in numerous ways. It is making clear to many that it is the working class that keeps society running, not the CEOs of major corporations.

The results of austerity have been graphically demonstrated as public services strain to cope with the crisis.

The government has now ripped up its 'austerity' mantra and turned to policies that not long ago were denounced as socialist. But after the corona crisis, it will try to make the working class pay for it, by trying to claw back what has been given.

The Socialist Party's material is more vital than ever, so we can continue to report from workers who are fighting for better health and safety measures, against layoffs, for adequate staffing levels, etc.
When the health crisis subsides, we must be ready for the stormy events ahead and the need to arm workers' movements with a socialist programme - one which puts the health and needs of humanity before the profits of a few.