Hinkley C nuclear reactor roof lifted into place – BBC News
Engineers have lifted a steel roof onto a building which will house the first of two nuclear reactors at Hinkley Point in Somerset.
Many question whether Hinkley Point C will be worth all the money, with Roy Pumfrey of the Stop Hinkley campaign describing the project as “shockingly bad value”. The project is now a decade behind schedule and has still not been approved by French regulators.
Is it on time or on budget? No, neither. When Hinkley C was first approved a decade ago, EDF said it would cost £14bn. Four years later, in 2017, they finally started construction. By then the cost had risen to £19.5bn, but now the cost has risen to £33bn, and it is now hoped Hinkley C will produce electricity by the end of 2027.
“Nobody believes it will be done by 2027,” said campaigner Roy Pumfrey. “The costs keep rising, and the price of Hinkley’s electricity will only get dearer.” Meanwhile, the price of wind power has fallen fast, to around £50/MWh.