14 Mar (NucNet): EDF will not go ahead with the Hinkley Point C nuclear project in the UK unless it wins further financial support from the French government, according to a letter by chairman and chief executive Jean-Bernard Lévy to the utility’s staff.
Mr Lévy said in the letter that he was negotiating to “obtain commitments from the state to help secure our financial position”.
He added he would “not engage in the [Hinkley Point] project before these conditions are met”.
In the letter Mr Lévy said the project has a good return of around nine percent a year for 60 years.
He said EDF has “a committed partner”, the Chinese utility China General Nuclear Power (CGN), which will own 33.5 percent of the project, investing approximately €8bn ($8.9bn).
Mr Lévy said the schedule is for the first safety-critical concrete to be set in 2019, which will allow EDF to incorporate feedback from EPRs under construction at Flamanville in France and Taishan in China.
