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| Thu, 5th Mar 2020 14:15:00 |
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Nuclear industry warns UK climate goal at risk |
The UK will miss its goal of net zero carbon by 2050 unless it finds a way to finance nuclear power stations, the nuclear industry has said.
The industry sent a confidential letter to Chancellor Rishi Sunak which has been seen by the BBC.
The letter was prompted by fears that the government will use next week's Budget to ditch a plan to pay for new plants through a levy on energy bills.
The scheme would have added an estimated £6 a year to energy bills.
It was put forward by the Treasury last year as a way of paying for a planned new power station at Sizewell in Suffolk.
All but one of the UK's existing nuclear power plants, which provide about 20% of the country's electricity, will be retired by the end of the decade.
Severe criticism
Only one new one, at Hinkley Point in Somerset, is under construction.
It is being paid for by the French utility company EDF and its partner in the project, China General Nuclear Power Corp (CGN).
The construction is backed by the promise that the UK will pay £92.50 for every megawatt-hour it produces, more than double the current market price.
The high price has attracted severe criticism, and prompted the search for a new way of financing nuclear plants.
"There is an urgent need for a new, robust financing mechanism which ensures investor confidence, reduces the cost of capital, and provides very significant value to the consumer," states the Nuclear Industry Association's letter to the chancellor.
"Without the right policy framework and investment model in legislation, then replacing this capacity and underpinning our future power needs becomes impossible to achieve."
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