Austria files EU complaint against UK nuclear plant

Austria has filed a legal challenge at the European Court of Justice against EU-granted state subsidies for a new nuclear power plant in Britain, government officials confirmed on Monday.

“Subsidies are there to support modern technologies that lie in the general interest of all EU member states. This is not the case with nuclear power,” Chancellor Werner Faymann said in a statement.

Austria argues that the Hinkley Point C project is in breach of European law and risks distorting the energy market.

Under the disputed deal, Britain would help fund the construction of two new reactors in southwest England.

As part of the agreement, the British government would guarantee an elevated 35-year fixed electricity rate to French energy group EDF, which would be in charge of the building the plant.

Initially projected to cost £16 billion ($25 billion, 22.6 billion euros), EU officials now estimate the project will require £24.5 billion.

Despite opposition from activists and several member states, the European Commission approved the project in October after Britain modified funding plans for the deal.

“We are confident that the European Commission’s state aid decision on Hinkley Point C is legally robust,” a spokeswoman for Britain’s Department of Energy and Climate Change said last week.