Ministers would be wise to play for time before ordering Sizewell C | Nils Pratley

Dashing ahead with a nuclear power station that's modelled on Hinkley Point C would be rash

This is the government's problem as it reopens talks on a proposed nuclear power station at Sizewell C in Suffolk: it is contemplating ordering a replica of Hinkley Point C before the Somerset original has produced a single megawatt of electricity.

That is not a small point. Developer EDF's pre-Hinkley version of its European pressurised reactor at Flamanville in Normandy is about a decade behind schedule. What's more, EDF wants UK taxpayers or bill payers to bear more of the construction risks at Sizewell, a less-than-compelling offer when you remember that Flamanville is also 9bn (8.2bn) over budget.