The National Audit Office (NAO) of the United Kingdom has released a new cost review for the Hinkley Point C nuclear plant project, estimating that the project would cost up to £50bn (€56.6bn) to British households over the life of the project. In 2013, the NAO had initially estimated that a £6bn (€7.1bn) investment would be required for the project and the government signed an agreement with project developer EDF on a £92.5/MWh (€104/MWh) "strike price"; this guaranteed price is now much higher than the average electricity price on the wholesale market and than renewable electricity, whose costs have been falling.
The Hinkley Point C project will consist of two 1,630 MW Areva EPR reactors and is developed by EDF, CGNPC and CNNC. The NAO announcement comes just two weeks after a review by EDF, which announced that the construction costs for the facility had jumped by £2.2bn (€2.5bn) and reached a total of £20.3bn (€23.1bn). Since July 2017, the risk of a deferral in the delivery (COD) of the project is estimated at 15 months for Unit 1 (commissioning in 2027 instead of late 2025) and 9 months for Unit 2, while the project rate of return has dropped from 9% to 8.2%.
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