The High Court of Paris on 28 October rejected an appeal by Electricite de France’s (EDF’s) Central Works Council (CEC) over the court's earlier rejection of its request to suspend the final investment decision for the Hinkley Point C NPP project in the UK. Consultations between EDF and the CEC on Hinkley began in May, but CEC said it had not been sufficiently informed by EDF and in June asked the court to suspend any final decision on the project. EDF's board made its final investment decision to proceed with the GBP18bn ($21.8bn) project to construct two EPR reactors at Hinkley on 28 July and a week later the Paris High rejected CEC’s request. CEC then appealed against the court's ruling.
In its rejection of CEC's appeal, the court cited a September decision by France's supreme court of appeals, the Cour de Cassation. This stated that, for an appeal to be valid, a judge must make a ruling in such cases before the deadline for the works council to give its feedback. The Paris High Court said that, at the time of CEC’s appeal, the legal deadline for its response to EDF (4 July) had already passed, and declared the appeal inadmissible.
Immediately after the long-awaited final investment decision for Hinkley Point C from the EDF board, the UK government said it needed to review the project. On 15 September, the government announced it had signed a revised agreement in principle with EDF for the project. The final agreements enabling construction of two EPR units at Hinkley Point C to proceed were signed by the UK government, EDF and China General Nuclear on 29 September.
