Last week energy secretary Ed Miliband promised a “golden age” for nuclear power as the government confirmed it is pushing ahead with the £14.2bn Sizewell C project in Suffolk.

It has done this despite investor interest in building nuclear in the UK having nosedived in the wake of EDF’s 2016 deal to build Hinkley Point C.

That scheme is now massively over budget on construction – EDF has said it will cost almost £47bn (in current prices) compared to the £10bn the firm said it would cost in 2010. While the £92.50 “strike price” deal with the government – a guarantee to buy energy at a certain price – has protected bill payers to an extent from these cost rises, it also ensured a big risk premium was priced into the job from the start, making nuclear power expensive, with the National Audit Office saying a risk-sharing approach could have been cheaper. The deal “locked consumers into a risky and expensive project with uncertain strategic and economic benefits,” the NAO said.