THE Hinkley Point Nuclear power station development decision to progress will have significant implications for the Nuclear Industry and also for its supply chain.
A vast development £18bn in contracting value and with an output great enough to power more than 58 million large televisions it will be a giant of electricity generation within the UK and will take 10 years to build.
Irrespective of where the money is coming from (a potentially contentious issue) it will mean jobs in the UK for many years to come. Is it good value?
Only time will tell, with outputs prices fixed at twice the current market rate.
Anything nuclear has of course got to be good for the cluster in Warrington? Yes, but alternative approaches could have been better (I have been told!).
UK technology could deliver for a start with money staying closer to home.
Alternative designs such as the small modular reactor have high potential too. Pre-fabricated and assembled on site these compact facilities would be ready quickly, have many choices for locations (old coal fired power station sites for example) have flexible outputs and are inherently safe.
There is an old saying about eggs and baskets and it applies here.
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