Letter to the EADT 08-01-20
Dear Editor,
Well Well Well ! At last it seems that what has been pretty obvious for such a long time to many of us, alongside the anti groups TASC & TEAGS, that SZC&D is a non-starter, (see their websites). As I said in my letter to EADT of September 19th, 2017 and headed “Has the penny finally dropped?” Having read the article by Andrew Hirst last Saturday 4th Jan in EADT, hopefully this is finally dawning on everybody. “Game over for Sizewell C&D” and nuclear globally. As they have always done, the costs of building nuclear power stations continue to rise astronomically. As EDF are well aware. They are extremely difficult and expensive to build, leaving a legacy of deadly waste material forever for our next generations. Essentially, nuclear energy was a 20th century controlled nuclear explosion to produce bombs. That is why it was introduced in the first place. Nuclear power stations followed. We were always told the electricity produced would be too cheap to even charge for. As we know, this never happened. Dr Paul Dorfman of the University College London, a specialist in these matters, has frequently pointed out the downside and in a debate with Paul Spence of EDF, stated, “the cost of nuclear is just too high” and (I say) too dangerous. He stated “renewables are now less than half the cost of nuclear”. Also, renewable energy is produced in a fraction of the time. It can be dismantled instantly if necessary unlike nuclear. In 2005 Sizewell A was shut down but may not be touched for another 70 years and will take as much as over 100 years to remove and then they will have to leave the dangerous reactor core vessel in the base sealed over forever at Sizewell beach, no doubt by then under water.
We have also learned recently that costs at Hinkley Point have escalated by £3 billion pounds so soon into the contract and the time increased by nearly two years forcing costs upwards constantly. Yet Mr Spence insists they, EDF, can learn from HPC&D at Sizewell. He is careful not to mention the north west French ‘flagship’ Flamanville EPR, still unfinished, or to mention the Olkiluoto EPR in Finland. These are both single reactors but fraught with problems. Flamanville certainly not expected to be commisioned for several more years. Both were begun in or around 2005. This will be the same for HPC&D, that seems certain. Thomas Piquemal, chief EDF financial director, resigned saying he thought HPC&D would cripple EDF. He was replaced by Xavier Girre. Watch this space!
Bob Hoggar.
Halesworth.
