Nuclear and free market capitalism aren’t compatible.

Posted: 14th August 2026

Nuclear and free market capitalism aren’t compatible. That was the deliberately provocative headline I used in 2023. Three years later, the financing structures actually being assembled for new reactors have made the underlying point harder to dismiss. A gigawatt-scale reactor commits billions for years before it earns operating revenue. Every delay extends the period in which financing costs accumulate inside one enormous asset.
Hinkley Point C has demonstrated what carrying that exposure looks like.
Britain’s response at Sizewell C wasn’t to find private investors suddenly willing to accept the same construction risk more cheaply. It was to redesign the financial structure so government, regulated customers and public backstops carry substantially more of it.

Michael Bernard 10th Aug 2026

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