£24bn Hinkley Point nuclear project an “expensive mistake”

ENERGY leader Paul Massara, chief executive of energy supplier RWE Npower, has launched an attack on the Hinkley point nuclear power plant development.

In the latest in a series of high-profile attacks on the development, Mr Massara told The Sunday Times that the Hinkley site was an “expensive mistake” that could come back to haunt our grandchildren.

The £24bn site will be the first nuclear power plant built in the UK in 20 years, and Ilkley’s NG Bailey recently announced a £460m contract to design and construct part of the site.

This follows the government coming towards a deal with EDF Energy, the French nuclear giant, and two Chinese state energy companies, to finance and build two reactors at Hinkley Point.

It would be the first since the Sizewell B reactor was completed in 1995, and would take 10 years to build. It would be underwritten by 35 years of subsidies tacked on to household bills.