The UK’s Sizewell C nuclear power plant is likely to cost around £40 billion, according to the Financial Times.
Citing a senior government figure and two industry sources, the newspaper said that the increases reflect rising construction costs and knock-on effects from delays and cost overruns at another UK nuclear project, Hinkley Point C.
In addition, delays to the project’s backers to raise billions of pounds from new investors is also pushing up the price of the project.
The predicted £40b figure is double the £20b previously estimated by the government and project developer EDF in 2020.
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) previously declined to reveal the current estimate for the project’s cost due to its “commercially sensitive” nature.
UK taxpayers have already spent around £3.7b on the project ahead of a final investment decision with an additional £2.7bn of spending expected in 2025-26.
EDF’s registration document from 2020 said that it would pre-finance the development of the project with an initial budget of £458m.
Officials have said that the Treasury is set to make a decision whether to go ahead with the project in June during the government’s spending review after missing a 2024 deadline.
However, the sources have warned this could be delayed until past autumn.
Concerns about the cost of Sizewell C have been mounting in recent months. A campaign group wrote to the National Audit Office (NAO) last week calling for a review of the government’s value assessment for the project.
Together Against Sizewell C (TASC) said there has been a lack of transparency over the government’s audit of spending on the nuclear project.
UK energy secretary Ed Miliband has previously placed nuclear power at the heart of the country’s clean energy strategy.
But with the majority of the UK’s nuclear power plants set to close by 2030, Sizewell C and Hinkley Point C, as the only nuclear projects under construction, will be key to meeting these ambitions.
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