Britain wants to make nuclear power plants cheaper to build

British politicians EDFCGNCGWEDFlike talking about nuclear power. Earlier this month the energy secretary, Claire Coutinho, trumpeted plans for “the biggest expansion of nuclear capacity in 70 years”. Ms Coutinho’s “roadmap” is the latest in a long line of such plans: one in 2022, from the then prime minister, Boris Johnson, for a “nuclear renaissance” with a reactor built each year; one in 2015 from George Osborne, a chancellor keen to woo Chinese investment; and one promoted in 2008 by Gordon Brown, another prime minister, to have eight new reactors running by 2023.What seems to be harder is actually getting any plants built. Not one of Mr Brown’s reactors has yet materialised. In 2016 , a French company, and , a Chinese firm, started work on Hinkley Point , a 3.2-gigawatt ()-capacity plant. The planned completion date was 2025 and the budget was £24bn ($30.6bn) in current prices. On January 23rd admitted that the plant may not be ready until 2031, and could cost up to £46bn.