(445.4408) WISE-Amsterdam - It cancelled plans to build Hinkley C in Wiltshire, west England and Sizewell C in Suffolk, east England.
BE emphasized that the decision not build the two new NPPs does not mean the end of British nuclear power. Chief Executive Robert Hawley said there will be construction of new nuclear generation capacity if it offers an appropriate return to the shareholders. He stated that it is now important for BE to prepare for privatization: "The announcement allows potential investors to judge our core business without trying to assess the prospects of our involvement in a large capital-intensive project in an uncertain market."
It has been estimated that construction of the two plants would have cost about 4.8 billion pounds (US$7.4 billion) and created 10,000 jobs. Despite the scrapping of the NPPs, no employee at BE should lose his job. Antinuclear campaigners were happy with the NPPs' scrapping. Business people in the area of Suffolk and Wiltshire, however, were said to be pessimistic about the economic future.
Analysts in London said nuclear power is threatened by gas' preeminence after two decades of British drilling in the North Sea. Gas was found during the search for oil in the North Sea in the 1970s, but it was not immediately tapped. Starting in the late 1980s, huge gas reserves became available as the British government had earlier restricted North Sea gas sale. It is estimated that the gas supply will last for more than 20 years.
Analysts said that BE can remain competitive in the British power market, but will have also to build plants which are fired by gas to generate extra profits. The British government has shown it is unwilling to fund new nuclear reactors and, according to analysts, it is hard to see how the private sector could be tempted to take over the role of the financier. The construction risks and the uncertain costs of decommissioning nuclear plants will prevent private investors from paying for a new reactor.
Source: Reuter, 11 & 12 Dec 1995
Contact: Shut Down Sizewell Campaign, Tudor House, St. James Street, Dunwich, Saxmundham, Suffolk IP17 3DU, UK
Tel & Fax +44- 1728-648300
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