Hinkley: a “total waste on money” and government should “move to more sensible solutions”.

A summary of six weeks of bad headlines for proposed nuclear plant.

It has been a very bad six weeks for the crisis-ridden Hinkley Point C.

The Times newspaper reports that the proposed nuclear station has been dealt a fresh double blow as the French minister responsible Emmanuel Macron admits that it is a risky project and fresh problems have emerged at Flamanville – the reactor being built in Normandy which is the same design as Hinkley Point C.

Nevertheless, EDF and the UK Government continue to say they are determined to carry on with construction.

Leading many to ask what it will take to make them stop?

Here’s a summary of news since the beginning of March.

One of the highlights perhaps was a comment on DECC’s five reasons why it is backing Hinkley Point C by independent energy consultant, Mike Parr.

Writing in Energy Post, Parr called the list “a mix of truth, unprovable assertions and omissions which could also be construed as lies”.

The DECC statement assumes that the problem of intermittent generation plus storage will not be solved any time soon.

He asks whether DECC has read the interview with Steven Holliday, CEO of National Grid, who said in September last year that “the idea of large coal-fired or nuclear power stations to be used for baseload is outdated” and we “…have the intelligence available in the system to ensure power is consumed when it’s there and not when it’s not there.”