French Nuclear Power Plant

[Ric.ror]

Why are we getting a French power plant - can't we build our own?

[Marshwarble]

"This wasn't negotiated after clause 50."

It can't be negotiated immediately after clause 50, any overseas project will take two years before we can even talk with countries.

Even then the clause won't mean that we'll suddenly get the ability to build our own ships again or other power stations.

[waterboatman]

The government have put it on hold. No decision before autumn.

Personally, I hope they refuse permission. Nuclear power is not clean, it's not safe and it's certainly not cheap. For a fraction of the cost of that blight on the landscape renewable power can be installed, which is clean, is safe and a lot cheaper.

[CrapAtCryptics]

If we can choose who we get our power from just dont go to EDF, what happens to the deal and the overpriced future guarantees. I`m not surprised the May government want to go over the detail again before they sign it. If they have the slightest sense they wont especially bearing in mind the ogoing costs of nuclear.

[Old_Geezer]

We need a reliable source. Nuclear is the only practical answer in the short and medium term.

[EDDIE51]

There is very little choice who we get to build a nuclear power station. It is down to the French, Chinese or USSR. No other nation has the experience necessary. The USSR design is considered too outdated and potentially unsafe so it's down to France or China.
We were world leaders, but the 'Anti Nuclear' protests such as the 'Nuclear Power No Thanks' campaine back in the 70/80s were so successful we abandoned our nuclear power program entirely and stopped research. Consequently we now have no company who have any designs for nuclear plants or engineers who have the training to design and build them.
We still have no engineers with the training or experience, all the 1970s ones have retired or died, and there is not even a university or training centre available to train new ones. We have to get the training places running first then get engineers to do the training before we can even start to design and build our own nuclear plants, that will take at least 25 years.
Of course IF (big if) we ever get Fusion power running it will make conventional nuclear plants obsolete.

[mikey4444]

This Government has had 6 years to make its mind up and yet, just hours to go, they change their mind !

I have described this as a complete farce on many occasions in the past, but I am now reaching for my thesaurus......

[EDDIE51]

ithin 25 years or so we are actually going to run out of power unless we start building nuclear now.

[Old_Geezer]

Maybe the first step is to form a company: then hire in the expertise on the global market. This country seems to like leeching skills from elsewhere rather than train our own citizens, anyway. Maybe it'd still work out cheaper as well as quicker.

[mikey4444]

Eddie....I agree. If we go on as we are, we will come home on dark December afternoon, flick the light switch and nothing will happen.

We should stick two fingers up to the bloody French, and build it ourselves.

The UK established the world’s first civil nuclear programme in 1956. As recently as 1997, nuclear generated as much as 26% of our national electricity needs, but that has now dropped to about 18%.

I simply refuse to believe that there isn't sufficient brain-power in Britain today, to build a new station at Hinkley Point ourselves.

[mikey4444]

If we cancelled HS2, whose only merit seems to be to bring Birmingham 20mns closer to London, we would be able to afford to go ahead with Hinkley Point C, so money isn't an issue.

I agree with OG at 08:23. Lets get off our bums and start doing something.

[dannyk13]

TTG
///Will they put the prices up to pay for it?///
On news now- government will not make any decision until autumn.Also on news- if built will add approx £10 PA to bills.

[naomi24]

//We should stick two fingers up to the bloody French//

Flipping heck, Mikey! If I didn't know better I'd have you down as an avid Brexiter!

[EDDIE51]

mikey, I agree entirely with your sentiment but unfortunately you can't just go out and design your own Nuclear plant. Most of the design . safety and control features are patented (by other countries) and only available under licence. We really shot ourselves in the foot 30 years ago by rushing to do as the 'anti nuclear' protesters asked. The anti nuclear power protest of course was an 'off spin' of the 'Ban the Bomb' anti nuclear weapon protests that started in the 1960s.
The argument was that nuclear power reactors would be used to produce more bombs so we had to get rid of nuclear power totally. The government of the day bought it lock stock and barrel and totally abandoned nuclear power building programs and all research into them.

[EDDIE51]

^^ And yes I very well know that the 'bombs from power station reactors' argument was total rubbish but the government didn't.

[mikey4444]

Eddie....I am not technologist but why can't we build one like the ones that we have already got ? Why can't we invent one of our own ?

When we built the first one at Calder Hall in 1956, I am pretty sure that we didn't need any foreign help to do so. Didn't we lead the world in nuclear power ?

A 1956 design would probably not be suitable now, of course, but I am getting increasingly fed up with being told that we must give away all our infrastructure to foreigners these days.

Don't foreigners own enough of Britain as it is ?

Here is a useful resource of nuclear power ::

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power_in_the_United_Kingdom

[ToraToraTora]

we are/will be building it ourselves, who do you think will actually be building it? Who do you think actually designed the concept originally? You guys get too bogged down in the nationality of corporations.

[mikey4444]

TTT.......the main reason this plan has gone breasts-up is that the original deal agreed with EDF and the French Government was a pig in a poke from day 1.

Just hours away from effectively starting this much-needed new generating power, our "new" Government has pulled the plug.

[EDDIE51]

Mikey the designs we still have are just not safe. They leak too much radiation are inefficient and have a limited life span with astronomical 'clean up' costs once they are past the 'use by' date. As said we abandoned all research and design of Nuclear plants back in the 1970s. We do not even have the facilities to train new engineers in the methods to build nuclear plant.

[mikey4444]

Eddie.....then Britain is an ass !

[Togo]

Strange world. Britain gives £billions in aid to overseas countries every year, but needs the "aid" of overseas countries to ensure we have reliable electrickery supplies. Perhaps India will have pity on us and donate a nuclear plant.