The furore surrounding the planned Hinkley Point nuclear power station in Somerset is likely to go, er, nuclear on Wednesday when MPs question the UK chief executive of EDF, the debt-laden, state-controlled French utility that is meant to be building the plant. Here are some questions for the energy and climate change committee to ask Vincent de Rivaz:
- In October you said you would sign the final contract for Hinkley Point soon. Why haven’t you signed it and when will you?
- When your finance director resigned, is it true that he left because of Hinkley Point and how does the fog surrounding his departure fit with your promise of a new era of transparency for nuclear power?
- Why should we expect you to build Hinkley Point on time and to budget when you have overrun by years on smaller projects in France and Finland?
- Who is getting the best deal, EDF or UK consumers on the hook to pay you more than double the current cost of wholesale electricity?
- Who is making the decisions, EDF or the French government in concert with the UK?
- If you knew what you know now, would you ever have agreed to build Hinkley Point?
