| Big = expensive. We are talking about two EPR 1600 MWe gen3 reactors here. The parent is talking about SMRs, small modular reactors. "The plant, which has a projected lifetime of 60 years, has an estimated construction cost of between £19.6 billion and £20.3 billion" "Financing of the project is still to be finalised, but the construction costs will be paid for by the mainly state-owned EDF of France and Chinese state-owned China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN)" "In September 2019, further costs were identified that bring the estimated total to £22.9 billion, and may further delay operations. The involvement of state-owned CGN was also questioned after it was sanctioned by the United States government for espionage." "The European Commission has previously estimated £24.5 billion, including financing costs during construction" So, an additional £2.6bn (~13%) cost overrun and geopolitics involving China. The EU estimation is +£4.2 bn. There were also competions ahead of schedule despite the pandemic, so it's not all that bad [1]. UK offshore wind also has a capacity factor of <40% [2]. Wind will also be sold cheaper, because when wind blows all over Europe, everyone wants to sell their wind generated electricity. For these reasons comparing the wholesale rates is kind of short sighted. I'm not picking one over of the other, but stressing that a balanced energy mix needs both. The UK's geographic position also enables the usage of offshore tidal plants. They just launched one of the biggest tidal plants recently, the Orbital O2 [3]. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinkley_Point_C_nuclear_power_station
2. https://energynumbers.info/uk-offshore-wind-capacity-factors
3. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-57991351
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