EDF chief vows East Kilbride has 'core role'

THE head of Électricité de France (EDF) in Britain has promised British Energy's East Kilbride office will retain a core role in the future of a combined group.

Vincent de Rivaz, EDF's UK chief executive, below, has maintained that staff at BE's current headquarters will be central to the development of new nuclear plants.

As part of a £12 billion deal to buy British Energy announced last month, Paris-based EDF said it would maintain the East Kilbride office, without saying what role it would play.

Opposition to the development of new nuclear power stations north of the Border from the Nationalist Scottish Government stoked fears that some of group's 1,400 Scottish staff might lose their jobs

While EDF has given no assurances on redundancies, de Rivaz said the "core competencies" British Energy has in Scotland would be essential for the huge development the firm planned in the UK over the next decade.

He told The Scotsman: "The people working in East Kilbride that are already working with the existing plants in Scotland, and the rest of the (UK], will also be taking part in the new nuclear power station development in England over the next decade.

"The people at East Kilbride are not only part of the present but also part of the future, absolutely so."

EDF plans to build four reactors in England, targeting commissioning of the first by 2017. De Rivaz said the company had "absolutely no plans" to build new plants near its Torness and Hunterston plants in Scotland.

The company has already outlined plans to construct and operate two reactors each at its existing nuclear sites south of the Border, at Hinkley Point in Somerset and Sizewell in Suffolk.

De Rivaz said he respected the SNP's anti-nuclear position, but maintained there was a need for it in the UK. "Britain requires a diverse energy mix combining nuclear newbuild, clean coal, gas-powered stations, a huge effort in developing renewables as well as a huge effort in developing energy efficiency," he said.

"There is no one silver bullet, but I think that when you look at the main challenges we are facing, (being] security of supply, affordability of the bills and climate change, it's very important not to eliminate one of the solutions to the problem.

"And if there is not one single solution in the foreseeable future, there is not a solution without nuclear newbuild being part of the mix."

De Rivaz also insisted the takeover would be "good news for all of the UK". He continued: "Why? Because we are contributing to the security of supply, to the affordability of the bills for customers and contribution to the combating of the climate change; that is fundamental good news in a context that we haven't heard much good news recently."

Speaking from the group HQ in Paris, de Rivaz insisted the firm would operate locally, with decisions over the operations of its UK assets made in the UK and engagement with local communities. "Nothing is more local than the electricity business and, being local, it will be operated locally."