YOU will recall that in September the Chinese agreed to take a stake in Hinckley on the understanding the UK Government would approve a Chinese-led and designed project at Bradwell on the Dengie - to become Bradwell B.

Now we have the authoritative national audit officer saying Hinkley C itself is a risky and expensive project.

Doubtless you will wish to include this news in next week’s issue and make the link to Bradwell.

While doing so, it is worth including last Wednesday the Bradwell Local Community Liaison Council, held at Mundon, was informed by the representative from the government’s Nuclear Development Agency that they have just agreed to pay out £100 million to Magnox’s competitors as the procurement process was incorrectly done - the size of the work being far more than anticipated.

Think what that would have bought in terms of the NHS or police and fire services. It also makes you wonder how well managed the nuclear procurement process is.

The same meeting also heard from another Government body dealing with radioactive waste management that finding somewhere to put the nation’s store of highly radioactive waste is likely to take another 100 years, despite offering communities £1 million a year whilst they volunteer a site. (Yes, they are proposing to build power stations still not knowing where they will put their dangerous waste.) In costing Bradwell B it is important that the full costs of all these directly related items to do with waste handling are included.

Including of course the cost of the Government bodies themselves.

Whilst Phil Greatorex was saying to Radio 4 that Hinkley is cheaper than renewables, he wasn’t challenged as to what figures he was including, but from everything we know to date coming from the likes of authoritative sources within Baang (Blackwater Against New Nuclear Group) we can be sure he wasn’t comparing like with like.

Judy Lea Spital Road Maldon