The new nuclear power station being built at Hinkley Point in Somerset, southwest England, will start operating a year later than planned and will cost an extra £3bn, it has been announced.

The French state energy company EDF published the findings of a review into the cost and schedule of the two-unit power station taking account of the continuing impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The delay means the first EPR plant is now scheduled to start operating in June 2027, a year later than planned, with costs estimated between £25bn and £26bn. EDF said this would not affect the cost to British consumers or taxpayers, but added it assumes assuming the absence of a new pandemic wave and no additional effect of the war in Ukraine.

A reduction in the number of workers allowed on the site in Somerset due to pandemic safety measures resulted in the loss of more than half a million days of critical work in 2020 and 2021, EDF said.