China bought out of Sizewell C as UK confirms £700m stake in nuclear project
China has been forced out of the Sizewell C nuclear power venture in Suffolk following a £700m investment of taxpayer cash.
The government is spending an initial £679 to help get the long-awaited project going, and confirmed on Tuesday that part of this will go to state-owned China General Nuclear (CGN) under an exit deal.
Downing Street refused to say how much it cost to buy the CGN out, but a government spokesperson said the payment covered China’s “exit from the project, including buy-out costs (and) any tax due and commercial arrangements”.
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Business Secretary Grant Shapps told the Commons: “I can confirm that China has now been bought out of the deal on Sizewell and the money ensured they are no longer involved in the future development.”
The announcement comes after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the “golden era” between the UK and China is over amid rising geopolitical tensions.
It means control will now be shared 50-50 between the UK government and the French energy giant EDF, who intend to build the plant.
Mr Shapps visited the proposed site on Monday, just weeks after the Chancellor confirmed the government’s commitment to Sizewell during his Autumn Statement.
Funding for the project was signed off by Boris Johnson at the start of September in one of his last acts as prime minister.
Sizewell C aims to generate enough low-carbon electricity to supply six million homes and help protect the UK from energy market volatility.
The government’s investment is for the early stage development of the plans, with the plant expected to take a decade to build at the cost of between £20-£30bn.
While Sizewell C has the backing of the Labour Party and unions, critics say it is too expensive and the new power source will take too long to come online.
Speaking to reporters at the site, Mr Shapps said he “queried” estimates that the costs could wrack up to as much as £30bn, as he was pressed on where the rest of the funding was coming from.
Grant Shapps speaks to reporters
The cabinet minister said he was confident money could be raised to build it from private investors.
“We’re very confident actually, because we’ve been speaking to potential investors,” he said.
“We’ve got no concerns at all about people investing in Britain.”
Mr Shapps blamed rising global gas prices on Vladimir Putin’s “illegal march on Ukraine”.
“We need more clean, affordable power generated within our borders – British energy for British homes,” he said.
But the Stop Sizewell C campaign group claim the plant “can neither lower energy bills nor give the UK energy independence”.
“Despite the government’s paltry £700m, there is still a huge amount of money to find, and no one is prepared to come clean about what the ultimate cost will be,” they said.
‘New nuclear neither great nor British’
Greenpeace UK also criticised the project, saying the expected launch of Great British Nuclear to assist it “is clearly ironic as new nuclear is neither great nor British”.
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Boris Johnson gives green light to nuclear plant funding
“Projects have been plagued by massive delays and ballooning costs while the government is seeking to have Sizewell C – a French-designed and built reactor – funded by foreign investment funds,” said policy director Doug Parr.
He called for a move towards a “100% renewable system that would be cheaper than those based on nuclear or fossil fuels”.
“Why are ministers still obsessing about astronomically expensive, delay-plagued nuclear plants when we have much better options available?”
French-owned EDF Energy is already building two new nuclear reactors, known as Hinkley Point C, in Somerset – but the project has been beset by delays and rising costs.
The investment into Sizewell comes on top of a new £1bn scheme to insulate middle-income homes in a bid to reduce energy dependence by 15% by 2030.
The government is also facing pressure to U-turn on keeping the ban on new onshore wind to improve the UK’s energy security as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine squeezes supplies.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said of Sizewell: “This is the first State backing for a nuclear power project in over 30 years.
“Once complete, Sizewell C will power millions of homes with clean, affordable, home-grown energy for decades to come.”
A woman has been arrested after 12 people were reportedly injured in a stabbing at Hamburg’s central train station in Germany.
An attacker armed with a knife targeted people on the platform between tracks 13 and 14, according to police.
They added that the suspect was a 39-year-old woman.
Police at the scene. Pic: AP
Officers said they “believe she acted alone” and investigations into the stabbing are continuing.
There was no immediate information on a possible motive.
The fire service said six of the injured were in a life-threatening condition, three others were seriously hurt, and another three sustained minor injuries, news agency dpa reported.
The attack happened shortly after 6pm local time (5pm UK time) on Friday in front of a waiting train, regional public broadcaster NDR reported.
A high-speed ICE train with its doors open could be seen at the platform after the incident.
Railway operator Deutsche Bahn said it was “deeply shocked” by what had happened.
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Four tracks at the station were closed in the evening, and some long-distance trains were delayed or diverted.
Hamburg is Germany‘s second biggest city, with the train station being a hub for local, regional and long-distance trains.
In mid-May, the World Health Organisation assessed that there were “nearly half a million people in a catastrophic situation of hunger, acute malnutrition, starvation, illness and death”.
“This is one of the world’s worst hunger crises, unfolding in real time,” its report concluded.
Warning: This article contains images of an emaciated child which some readers may find distressing
Israel‘s decision this week to reverse the siege and allow “a basic level of aid” into Gaza should help ease the immediate crisis.
But the number of aid trucks getting in, so far fewer than 100 per day, is considered dramatically too few by aid organisations working in Gaza, and the United Nations accuses Israel of continuing to block vital items.
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“Strict quotas are being imposed on the goods we distribute, along with unnecessary delay procedures,” said UN secretary general Antonio Guterres in New York on Friday.
“Essentials, including fuel, shelter, cooking gas and water purification supplies, are prohibited. Nothing has reached the besieged north.”
Nineteen of Gaza’s hospitals remain operational, all of them are overwhelmed with the number of patients and a lack of supplies.
Baby Aya at Rantisi hospital in northern Gaza is dangerously thin
“Today, we receive between 300 to 500 cases daily, with approximately 10% requiring admission. This volume of inpatient cases far exceeds the capacity of Rantisi hospital, as the facility is not equipped to accommodate such large numbers,” Jall al Barawi, a doctor at the hospital, told us.
At least 94% of the hospitals have sustained some damage, some considerable, according to the UN.
Jall al Barawi, a doctor at Rantisi hospital
Paramedic crews are close to running out of fuel to drive ambulances.
The lack of food, after an 11-week blockade, has left thousands malnourished and increasingly vulnerable to surviving injuries or recovering from other conditions.
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Children are the worst affected.
Our team in Gaza filmed with baby Aya at the Rantisi hospital in northern Gaza. She is now three months old and dangerously thin.
Her skin stretches over her cheekbones and eye sockets on her gaunt, pale face. Her nappy is too big for her emaciated little body.
Aya’s nappy is too big for her emaciated little body.
Lethal spiral
Her mother Sundush, who is only 19 herself, cannot get enough food to produce breastmilk. Baby formula is scarce.
Aya, like so many other young children, cannot get the vital nutrition she needs to grow and develop.
It’s a lethal spiral.
This is what Aya looked like shortly after she was born
“My daughter was born at a normal weight, 3.5kg,” Sundush tells us.
“But as the war went on, her weight dropped significantly. I would breastfeed her, she’d get diarrhoea. I tried formula – same result. With the borders closed and no food coming in, I can’t eat enough to give her the nutrients she needs.”
“I brought her to the hospital for treatment, but the care she needs isn’t available.
“The doctor said her condition is very serious. I really don’t want to lose her, because I lost my husband and she’s all I have left of him. I don’t want to lose her.”
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Aya and her mother Sundush
Some of the aid entering Gaza now is being looted. It is hard to know whether that is by Hamas or desperate civilians. Maybe a combination of the two.
The lack of aid creates an atmosphere of desperation, which eventually leads to a breakdown in security as everyone fights to secure food for themselves and their families.
Only by alleviating the desperation can the security situation improve, and the risk of famine abate.
World
Police launch ‘major operation’ after 12 people injured in knife attack at Hamburg train station
Twelve people are reported to have been injured after a knife attack at Hamburg’s central train station.
A “major operation” has been launched and a suspect was arrested, police said in a post on X.
The identity of the suspect has not been revealed.
Reports in Germany said the suspected attacker was a woman.
The fire service said six of the injured were in a life-threatening condition, three others were seriously hurt, and another three sustained minor injuries, news agency dpa reported.
Bild newspaper said the motive for the attack was so far unknown.
Hamburg is Germany’s second biggest city, with the train station being a hub for local, regional and long-distance trains.
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