On Monday chancellor George Osborne announced a £2 billion government-backed guarantee for the long-awaited Hinkley deal, which has been widely criticised for being too expensive and too risky.
Former Labour MP Tom Greatrex has warned that by pushing forward plans for the project in the face of increasingly vocal concerns the government might scupper the cross-party support which has underpinned the UK’s nuclear ambitions so far.
“upporting new nuclear is not the same as supporting Hinkley – many advocates of nuclear power are troubled by the choice of reactor design, the financial model being deployed and the negotiated strike price,” Greatrex said in an exclusive column for Utility Week.
“Without care and attention, the political choices of the government may squander the current broad acceptance of the part new nuclear can play, years before any power is generated,” he added.
Nuclear power is one of the few energy technologies which has escaped the political polarisation experienced by the renewables and gas industries. But by backing the eye-wateringly expensive new nuclear plans while cutting renewable support on the grounds of consumer costs nuclear may emerge as a new political football.
“hrough intentional antagonism and short term political posturing on other technologies, the chancellor risks creating a new totemic energy issue for his opponents to rally around,” Greatrex said.
Already political dissent may be rising. New Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is known to be personally against nuclear power, as is the increasingly influential Scottish National Party.
“Many, on an objective analysis, see nuclear as a necessary part of our generation mix as the UK seeks to decarbonise. Yet through intentional antagonism and short term political posturing on other technologies, the Chancellor risks creating a new totemic energy issue for his opponents to rally around,” Greatrex said.
“That could prove to be a very expensive political error on his part.”
Read Greatrex’s full column here, and in the 25 September issue of Utility Week.