Monday came and went without a formal complaint filed by Austria over the subsidy planned for the proposed Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant proposed for southwest Britain.
Austria has been threatening to file a complaint concerning the subsidy, claiming it is illegal under European Union rules to prop up a business that is otherwise not profitable. A complaint, however, is now expected to be filed Wednesday.
The complaint is expected, even though the European Commission approved the deal in October. The subsidy, should Electricite de France decided to continue with the project, would be in the form of a price guarantee for the plant’s electricity.
The plant, now expected to cost $27.4 billion to build, would have prices guaranteed by the British government for 35 years.
Austria, meanwhile, has no nuclear power plants and has been vocal about what it perceives are the risks inherent in nuclear power. The Austrian government had said last week that it would file a formal complaint with the European Court of Justice on June 29.
EDF and the Department for Energy and Climate Change, meanwhile, have defended the European Commission’s decision. A spokesman for EDF said the deal was “fair and balanced,” and that the decision was made “following a robust and lengthy investigation."