Nuclear energy site Hinkley Point C, still under construction, has announced that it is now offering 30,000 new training places between now and its completion date, the BBC reports.
A spokesperson for the site, which lays in Somerset, UK, said that the training opportunities would give local residents the chance to join the project as it hits “peak construction”.
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Approximately $29.9m (£24m) of investment will be paid to support the courses by the site’s majority owner, French state-owned energy company EDF. The training on offer will include electronics, welding, and pipe installation. Apprentices, local business staff and current employees at the site are among those eligible for the courses.
Andrew Cockroft, a senior manager at the site, said: “[The courses] are in a huge, diverse range of careers and skill sets – welders, electrical technicians, mechanical engineers.” Hinkley Point C has already trained 1,130 apprentices so far.
UK energy security and net zero secretary Grant Shapps said that the training programmes being funded by the French company are a good thing. He told the BBC: “I think we should all be rather pleased it is not the British tax payer – it is France and EDF who are paying. “I am often asked how much this is going to cost us, and I say we are not having to pay.”
In February, estimated costs for the Hinkley Point C rose again to almost $40bn (£33bn), up from previous estimates of $31bn-$33bn (£26-£27bn) set out in May 2022. China’s General Nuclear Power Group (CGN) hold a 33% stake in the project. Under the companies’ current agreement, EDF can ask CGN to pump more capital into the site if costs increase. However, a spokesperson for EDF said at the time: “The probability that CGN will not fund the project after it has reached its committed equity cap is high.”
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By GlobalDataIf CGN did withdraw funding, EDF would have to shoulder all additional costs incurred during the site’s construction. This could prove a difficult ask for the French company after it posted record net losses for 2022 following reactor failures last year and a significant decline in its electricity output.
The project was originally slated to open in 2017. In 2015, this was pushed back to 2025. This has since been delayed again to 2027, a decade after its initial scheduling.
