6 months ago
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The UK/Ireland Nuclear Free Local Authorities have joined campaigners at Stop Sizewell in writing to pension fund administrators providing benefits to members in at least 120 UK local authorities urging them not to finance the Sizewell C nuclear power plant project in Suffolk.
In recent months, Government ministers and EDF have been busy courting pension funds seeking private sector finance. UK taxpayers have already been unwittingly forced to stump up £2.5 billion in pledges made by the government to kick start preparatory works on the site, but government will need billions more to commence construction.
The estimated cost of completing Sizewell C’s sister plant Hinkley Point C in Somerset could be as high as £46 billion, and civil nuclear projects are notorious for being delivered late and hugely over budget.
Now NFLA Secretary Richard Outram has joined Stop Sizewell Executive Director Alison Downes in writing to Council pension funds urging them to invest in renewables instead of nuclear, particularly in light of the many resolutions passed by Councils to take urgent action to tackle climate change.
Stop Sizewell have also prepared an excellent briefing outlining why backing Sizewell C would be a bad investment:
Richard Outram said: “The NFLAs have been active in writing previously to investment funds to persuade them not to back the Sizewell C white elephant, so it was only right that we also supported Stop Sizewell in making an equal appeal to pension funds who manage the investment of the contributions paid by local authority workers. As a member of the Greater Manchester Pension Fund. I want to see my money backing renewables not nuclear.
“Investing in renewables means generating clean, sustainable, affordable, and safe energy now, and in the future, all the while realising an immediate return for pension fund members and tackling the threat of climate change. Investing in nuclear is fraught with uncertainties and risk, will mean the imposition of a nuclear levy on electricity bills paid by consumers many of whom are already struggling to make ends meet, and leaves a terrible legacy of nuclear waste and contaminated nuclear plants which must be cleaned up at a massive cost to the taxpayer!”.
Ends…For more information please contact Richard Outram, NFLA Secretary, by email to richard.outram@manchester.gov.uk
The letter sent to pension fund board / committee members and administrators reads:
A joint letter to urge you not to back the Sizewell C nuclear power station project.
Dear Pension Board / Committee Members and Administrators,
We are writing to you concerning the proposed Sizewell C twin nuclear project in Suffolk, for which the government is urgently seeking external financing.
According to a report in the Financial Times, local authority pension schemes/pools were recently invited to meet the Chancellor and one of Sizewell C’s Directors.
We urge you not to consider making an investment in or in any way becoming involved in Sizewell C, which presents a range of significant risks that are outlined in the attached briefing.
In summary, these risks include but are not limited to:
- Sizewell C’s EPR reactor technology is, according to a former EDF CEO, “too complicated, almost unbuildable”, which has resulted in huge delays and overspends[i] on other EPR projects. It is inconceivable that Sizewell C would be built to time and budget.
- Despite its appalling track record, Sizewell C remains dependent upon EDF, which is overstretched. Moreover the gap with Hinkley Point C is growing, which Sizewell C’s chair has acknowledged will reduce any claimed replication “benefits”[ii].
- Even with above-ground replication, it is impossible to replicate Hinkley C’s location, which at Sizewell C presents unique, expensive challenges.
- Not even the Regulated Asset Base (RAB) model – use of which for nuclear projects is controversial and opposed by Citizens Advice[iii] – can eliminate financial risk for investors, according to the Financial Times[iv].
- Investors face considerable reputational risks in addition to substantial ESG concerns[v].
PS if you prefer not to open attachments the briefing is also online here: https://stopsizewellc.org/core/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Sizewell-C-and-Risk_-Briefing-for-investors-updated-May-2024.pdf
Every devolved jurisdiction in the UK (in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, and the Jersey Government) has declared a climate emergency. Across the UK, most local authorities have done the same.[vi]
In England, twenty County Councils; one hundred and fifty-nine District Councils; thirty London Boroughs; thirty-four Metropolitan Councils; and forty-seven other unitary authorities have do so.
And in Scotland, twenty-five; in Wales nineteen; and in Northern Ireland, four Councils.
Doubtless, many of your pension fund member authorities will have passed such resolutions.
Investment in nuclear will do nothing to mitigate the impact of climate change in the limited time remaining to us in which to do so.
In December 2023, the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) announced the outcome of the world’s first ‘global stocktake’. Negotiators from nearly 200 parties analysed the global situation to assess progress against their overarching aim to keep the global temperature rise limited to 1.5°C by 2030. Their conclusion was that nations were underperforming and that global greenhouse gas emissions need to be cut 43% by 2030, compared to 2019 levels, to limit global warming to 1.5°C[vii].
Based on the lived experience of Hinkley Point C, Sizewell C’s predecessor, the latter will be constructed far too late to make any difference in arresting global warming.
The British Government has itself estimated that a nuclear power station takes 17 years to build. Construction of Hinkley Point C was expected to be completed before Christmas 2017, after a series of setbacks the estimated build date is now 2031 – 2032.
Sizewell C will be built by the same operator using the same reactor design, on a site that is more challenging to build upon, in a community that is vehemently opposed to it and organised. It will probably take as long to build as Hinkley Point C.
Last year, more electricity generating capacity was constructed employing renewable technologies than has, ever, been constructed using nuclear ones.
Nuclear will also bring with it an unwanted cost to many UK citizens already reeling from high energy bills. For the UK Government has resolved to support the construction of new nuclear plants though a Regulated Asset Base model which will mean the imposition of a ‘nuclear levy’ on the bill of every British electricity consumer. This is an imposition that is especially unfair for the oldest customers who are unlikely to see the completion of any such plants and for poorer consumers who will face even bigger bills when they are least able to afford it.
Investing pension funds into Sizewell C would fly in the face of the many resolutions passed by your member authorities calling for greater Government support for their impoverished constituents in the current cost-of-living crisis.
Renewables are far quicker and cheaper to build, can generate electricity far more cheaply, do not rely on Russian uranium for fuel, cannot be turned into a ‘dirty bomb’ by a Russian hypersonic missile sometime in the future, and do not leave a toxic legacy of radioactive waste that will be deadly for millennia and incredibly costly to deal with.
An investment in renewables means a return now for your pension fund members, no nuclear levy for your struggling voters, and a more sustainable planet. We would therefore urge you to invest every spare penny in renewables rather than nuclear.
Your pension fund members, Councillors in your pension fund member authorities, their poorer and older constituents, the people of Suffolk, and the planet will thank you!
We hope the information and the more detailed briefing attached will convince you not to get involved in Sizewell C. Please don’t hesitate to contact us via email to the NFLA Secretary Richard Outram at richard.outram@manchester.gov.uk if you have any additional questions. Thank you for your time.
Yours faithfully,
Alison Downes, Executive Director, Stop Sizewell C
Richard Outram, Secretary, UK/Ireland Nuclear Free Local Authorities
[i] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/01/23/hinkley-point-c-nuclear-delay-again-costs-jump-35bn/
[ii] https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-former-rail-chief-now-minding-the-construction-gap-at-sizewell-vm5tnxj6w
[iii] https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/feb/19/citizens-advice-says-sizewell-c-costs-should-not-be-paid-with-energy-bill-hikes
[iv] https://www.ft.com/content/fbc40c82-c8f8-4c63-ae61-fd80f561b725
[v] https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/jul/02/could-sizewell-c-nuclear-plant-ruin-minsmere-rspb-suffolk
[vi] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_emergency_declarations_in_the_United_Kingdom
[vii] https://unfccc.int/news/cop28-agreement-signals-beginning-of-the-end-of-the-fossil-fuel-era
