Hinkley Point C could be delayed until 2031 and cost as much as £35 billion, in 2015 values, EDF has said in an update on the plant construction.
The company said in May 2022 that the start of electricity production was scheduled for June 2027 with a risk of 15 months of further delay, while the cost of completion of the project was estimated at £25-26 billion in 2015 values.
After review, the company says its base case for the schedule and cost is that Unit 1 will be operational in 2030, because it expects that “certain risks inherent in the ramp-up of the electromechanical work and the testing schedule” will materialise. The detailed design for the next phase of electromechanical work was finalised in recent months and 70% of the equipment to be installed on unit 1 has been delivered,
The company said the costs of completing the project are now estimated at least £31-34 billion in 2015 values, with the increase mainly due to the cost of civil engineering and the longer duration of the electromechanical phase (and its impact on other work).
If an action plan on the electromechanical work is successful company hopes that unit 1 will be operational in 2029. However “given the complexity of the project, an unfavourable scenario assuming a further 12-month risk materialises could lead to unit 1 being operational in 2031” and add an estimated additional cost of around £1 billion in 2015 values.
While the cost of Hinkley Point C underlines the massive cost of these water moderated and cooled reactors, and EDF hopes to duplicate the final design for Sizewell C and save costs, this still does not explain why the UK continues to cool the fission reactors with water at very high pressures of over 2,000 psi which requires very expensive safety containment buildings that are a major part of the total cost, when alternative proven fission technologies using alternative heat transfer fluids such as molten salts or lead exist, that operate at much lower pressures, would substantially reduce the cost.