Despite escalating costs, it remains the government's objective to get Sizewell C to a Final Investment Decision within this parliament. This is likely to require billions more pounds of taxpayers' money. This huge twin nuclear reactor project on the Suffolk coast shows every sign of becoming another HS2; an enormous hole in the government's balance sheet, with its cost and schedule out of control.
It's time to call a halt to this madness. Sizewell C is too slow, expensive and damaging to be the answer to our climate and energy security emergency. If you agree that Sizewell C is the wrong project in the wrong place, send a message to Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt, telling them why they should cancel Sizewell C.
Here are some of the reasons that may matter to you.
- No one is admitting what Sizewell C will cost, but it's expected to be at least £30 billion. Not only would it suck up taxpayers' money, but every household would have to pay a tax on our energy bills throughout its lengthy construction - a decade before a single lightbulb is lit.
- The type of reactor Sizewell C want to build has been delayed - in some cases by more than a decade - and over-budget in every single previous project. One of only three reactors ever completed has been offline for around 18 months of its five-year life with technical problems. The EPR is not a proven reactor.
- Sizewell C would be the biggest building site in Europe. Its construction threatens RSPB Minsmere and would permanently destroy part of Sizewell Marshes. There is no assured freshwater supply, without which the plant cannot operate - this is the subject of a legal challenge - and the fragile coastal site must be protected from rising sea levels and storm surges for well over a century.
Official portraits above via Wikimedia Commons