EDF warns of £2.2bn cost overrun and schedule slip on Hinkley Point C

French state-owned electricity generator EDF has warned that the cost of building Hinkley Point C nuclear power station will be up to £2.2bn higher than its last estimate, reaching as high as £20.3bn. Construction work on the plant’s ancilliary facilities has already begun, but the first concrete for the building that will house the reactor itself is scheduled to be poured in 2019.  EDF says that there is a risk that the site’s first reactor, due to come on-line in 2025, might be up to fifteen months late, with the second unit possibly running nine months behind schedule.

Of the increased cost, £1.5bn results from “a better understanding of the design adapted to the requirements of the British regulators, the volume and sequencing of work on-site and the gradual implementation of work on-site.” The scheduler overrun gives rise to the remaining £0.7billion, the company adds.

This represents the second increase in the cost of the project, after EDF raised the estimate from £15bn to £18bn in 2015 because of inflation.