When in 2016 France’s EDF signed up to build Britain’s first new nuclear power plant in two decades, defenders of the costly Hinkley Point C project included Emmanuel Macron, then economy minister.
“If we believe in nuclear power, we have to do Hinkley Point,” France’s now president told a parliamentary enquiry, rejecting some lawmakers’ concerns that state-backed EDF, which was already struggling to deliver a new French prototype plant in Normandy, may not have the financial bandwidth to take on the British site, originally estimated to cost £18bn.
Eight years on, with cost overruns surging at Hinkley due to repeated delays and EDF on the hook for at least another £5bn on top of previous budget revisions, Macron’s government is on a mission to ensure the French nuclear operator can indeed withstand the fallout — and keep on top of ballooning investments and orders at home.