Court cases continue ...

While the Austrian case against the Hinkley C  subsidies remains at the European Court of Justice - until Brexit actually happens in 2019 - Greenpeace France have launched a complaint to the European Commission about French government support for EDF.

The Commission has cleared restructuring and takeover by EDF of the collapsed Areva, the French nuclear engineering company at the heart of so much trouble, and also raised no problems about EDF being, in effect, refinanced by the French Government.

The Greenpeace case is that the Hinkley C project threatens EDF’s wider future as an energy company. Greenpeace France are also challenging the “solution” being proposed by EDF and experts for Flammanville’s faulty reactor vessel lid. This has been fixed in place, may have the faulty carbon level in its steel, and cannot be inspected because the concrete cap has been put on already. The compromise solution, amazingly, is to let it operate for a short period - five years? -  and then revisit the issue!  Mind-boggling?

Meanwhile, a new legal challenge has been posted by Greenpeace Germany arguing that the Hinkley C decision did not respect the duty of the UK government under the Aaarhus Convention to consult other nations about its plans.