Energy secretary Amber Rudd (Letters,21 April) clearly has the gift of clairvoyance. She says that no liabilities would fall to the UK taxpayer or consumer should Hinkley Point C be cancelled. Who, pray, and would foot the bill to complete the project should EDF withdraw after a few years of construction when cost and time overruns became obvious,as they gain with other projects in France and Finland?And assuming the plant ever began generating its costly electricity, who would be responsible for the waste management costs, and the size of which can only be estimated since the location,depth, technical details about cladding, and inventory,or even whether there will ever be a repository, remain stubbornly indistinct and could yet result in indefinite storage on site? Spent nuclear fuel from Hinkley C or Sizewell C would be on their respective sites for an estimated 160 years. Who will acquire title to hundreds of tonnes of spent nuclear fuel whether, and as is likely,within that time period, EDF disappears?Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com