Austria files EU complaint against UK nuclear plant

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

"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.    

Despite opposition from activists and several member states, the European Commission approved the Hinkley Point C project in southwest England last October after Britain modified funding plans for the deal.    
Initially projected to cost 16 billion ($25 billion, 22.6 billion euros), EU officials now estimate the deal will require 24.5 billion.
 
Austria argued that the bid was in breach of European law and risked distorting the energy market.
 
In particular, it criticised the British government's intention to guarantee an elevated 35-year fixed electricity rate to French energy group EDF, which would be in charge of building the two new reactors in Somerset.
 
However, EDF insisted on Monday the project was "fair and balanced".
 
"The agreements... were approved by the European Commission following a robust and lengthy investigation. EDF Energy is confident that these agreements will continue to withstand any challenge," the company told AFP.
         
Austria's move comes after an alliance of 10 German and Austrian energy companies announced they also planned to file a legal challenge at the ECJ against Hinkley Point.
 
Opponents see the project as an unnecessary support of nuclear energy just when the use of renewables, such as wind and solar power, is starting to take hold in Europe.    

But the EU Commission...