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UK threatens retaliation over nuclear spat

According to a report in the Financial Times, Britain's prime minister David Cameron is threatening to retaliate economically against Austria due to the country's opposition to EU funding for an expansion of Britain's nuclear program.

UK threatens retaliation over nuclear spat
Hinkley Point nuclear power station in the UK. Photo: Richard Baker/Wikimedia

In December, the Austrian government announced that it would move to block a €57.8 billion loan for “three potential projects with a total of 12.2GW capacity”, including the controversial Hinkley Point C.

This week, Austria's ambassador to the UK Martin Eichtinger wrote that the UK has threatened to “sue or hurt” Austria in areas that would have a “strong domestic political impact”.

The move is seen as a threat of retaliation against Austria's moves to challenge the decision by the European Commission last October that British support for the Hinkley project is not equivalent to state aid.

In a meeting with Vijay Rangarajan of the Foreign Office, the UK said that it could retaliate in several ways, including the “systematic creation of countermeasures” against the central European country.

“We won’t let ourselves be intimidated,” Austrian Environment Minister Andrae Rupprechter said late Wednesday on Twitter. “No subsidies for atomic power.”

According to reports, senior ministers of the British government are actively engaging with their Austrian equivalents to lobby against the decision.  If Vienna doesn't back down, the ambassador expects 'further escalation' once the Austrian government officially launches their lawsuit.

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BUSINESS

France’s EDF hails €10billion profit, despite huge UK nuclear charge

French energy giant EDF has unveiled net profit of €10billion and cut its massive debt by increasing nuclear production after problems forced some plants offline.

France's EDF hails €10billion profit, despite huge UK nuclear charge

EDF hailed an “exceptional” year after its loss of €17.9billion in 2022.

Sales slipped 2.6 percent to €139.7billion , but the group managed to slice debt by €10billion euros to €54.4billion.

EDF said however that it had booked a €12.9 billion depreciation linked to difficulties at its Hinkley Point nuclear plant in Britain.

The charge includes €11.2 billion for Hinkley Point assets and €1.7billion at its British subsidiary, EDF Energy, the group explained.

EDF announced last month a fresh delay and additional costs for the giant project hit by repeated cost overruns.

“The year was marked by many events, in particular by the recovery of production and the company’s mobilisation around production recovery,” CEO Luc Remont told reporters.

EDF put its strong showing down to a strong operational performance, notably a significant increase in nuclear generation in France at a time of historically high prices.

That followed a drop in nuclear output in France in 2022. The group had to deal with stress corrosion problems at some reactors while also facing government orders to limit price rises.

The French reactors last year produced around 320.4 TWh, in the upper range of expectations.

Nuclear production had slid back in 2022 to 279 TWh, its lowest level in three decades, because of the corrosion problems and maintenance changes after
the Covid-19 pandemic.

Hinkley Point C is one of a small number of European Pressurised Reactors (EPRs) worldwide, an EDF-led design that has been plagued by cost overruns
running into billions of euros and years of construction delays.

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