EDF union board rep to vote against Hinkley Point project
A union-backed board member at French energy company EDF has said he will vote against its plan to build a nuclear reactor at Hinkley Point in the UK.
Christian Taxil, who represents the CFE-CGC union, wrote in a letter to EDF staff, seen by the Financial Times, that conditions were “not right” for the £18bn project and it should be postponed.
The EDF board is expected to vote on the final investment decision on May 11. The project is critical to the UK’s energy future, set to provide 7 per cent of the nation’s electricity when it starts operating in 2025.
Mr Taxil wrote on Wednesday that the challenging financial position of EDF, technical issues and the current state of the energy market all meant that “conditions were not met” to push ahead.
This follows an FT report on Tuesday that senior engineers and other dissidents within EDF were calling for at least a two-year delay in the project and for a redesign of the reactor.
These were just the latest dissenting voices. Thomas Piquemal, the chief financial officer of EDF, resigned this month over concerns that the project could threaten the company’s future.
CFE-CGC had already come out against the project in its current form, last month saying that it could “put EDF in danger”.
A negative vote by Mr Taxil is unlikely to make a difference to the final vote, however. The unions only have six board seats and they are not united in opposition.
The majority of the 18-strong board is likely to vote in favour of the deal, according to people close to the group. The company is 85 per cent state owned and the government wants the project to go ahead.
Vincent de Rivaz, chief executive of UK division EDF Energy, last week said “clearly and categorically” that the Hinkley Point C plant would go ahead.