The $25.6 billion Hinkley Point nuclear plant project for Britain, which has a very tentative construction start date of 2019, has been hit with another headline-provoking controversy as the chief finance director for French utility EDF has quit his post over rising project costs, French and British media are reporting.
The resignation of EDF Chief Financial Officer Thomas Piquemal has reportedly rattled investors just as EDF continues to seek fresh capital to provide incentive for a go-ahead on the deal. The company has postponed the decision to go ahead with the two-reactor construction project for approximately four years, having first balked at a decision in 2012. Poiquemal was reportedly seeking another three-year delay in the decision over concerns of rising costs. With his resignation, EDF has appointed Xavier Girre, who joined the company last year, to take is place on an interim basis.
Piquemal's resignation comes just weeks after project director Chris Bakken quit his job.
Despite the resignations, EDF continues to seek investors for help with its share of the project. China General Nuclear Power Corporation, in a ground-breaking deal, is on board for 33 percent of the financing.
Discussions between the French government and EDF are continuing. Those talks also involve a financial rescue of nuclear design giant AREVA, which has posted huge losses due to long delays at the Olkiluoto Unit 3 construction project in Finland and due to an industry-wide slump that followed the March 2011 accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Generating Station in Japan.
Besides financial concerns, each delay in the Hinkley Point project provokes a renewed outcry that revolves around the potential for British power generation to fall behind the demand for electricity.
Hinkley Point is expected to produce enough electricity to meet 7 percent of Britain's demand. While construction is (very tentatively) expected to take from 2019 until 2025, some in Britain are calling for a “Plan B” so that consumers are not left with a poorly supplied grid in the coming years.
“This power station is absolutely central to the government's strategy for keeping the lights on and meeting Britain's international commitments on climate change,” said shadow energy minister Lisa Nandy.
With the delays ongoing, EDF said recently that it would extend the life of four nuclear power plants in Britain, giving Heysham Unit 1 and the Hartlepool Generating Station an additional five-years of commercial life. Both were set to be decommissioned in 2019. In addition, EDF will delay decommissioning for the Heysham Unit 2 and the Torness Generating Station in Scotland for seven years, allowing them both to operate through 2030.
Still, many in Britain, including union leaders are also getting antsy over the lack of a decision for Hinkley Point. GMB union officer Phil Whitehurst called for the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority to shift to a new mission as the “Nuclear Development Authority.”
"They should take over responsibility for the project, which has to go ahead,” he said.