EDF has denied that workers from the China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN) – it’s financial partner for Hinkley Point C – are playing a greater role in the construction of the nuclear power station that was originally presented to the public.
Responding to an investigation in the Sunday Telegraph, the company also disputed allegations that senior engineers from CGN had suggested lifting a 270-tonne concrete dome into place above the heads of more than 5,000 workers.
According to an unnamed source quoted by the paper, the proposal was rejected as too dangerous to take place in the UK after the engineers argued that a similar lift had been successfully executed at the Taishin nuclear plant being built by EDF and CGN in China.
The Sunday Telegraph cited CGN as saying it had 100 members of staff working on the construction of Hinkley Point C and suggested that this contradicted an earlier statement from EDF’s head of community relations for Hinkley, David Eccles, who said in May there were between 20 and 30 Chinese national on site at the time.
Both EDF and CGN initially declined to comment on the reports, which prompted some senior Conservatives to call for a review of Chinese involvement in the project. However, EDF has since released a statement flatly denying the allegations as “untrue”.
“The role of CGN is not increasing at Hinkley Point C and at no stage did anyone on the project suggest lifting a structure over workers, nor has there been any disagreement over the approach to be taken to the dome lift,” the company said.
“Hinkley Point C is a European designed nuclear reactor – being built with experience and innovation from similar reactors around the world, including the reactors built by EDF, Framatome and CGN at Taishan.
“This co-operation has always been made public. The majority of the workforce and supply chain at Hinkley Point C is British. British engineers benefit from more than 60 years of experience in building and operating nuclear plants and the UK supply chain is driving innovation and improvements in the plant’s construction.”
EDF maintained that there are only around 30 CGN employees working on the project out a total of around 6,000 people.