The evaluation of 'need' and 'economics' arguments by the Sizewell B Inquiry

The Sizewell B Inquiry into the application by the Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB) to build Britain's first pressurized water reactor (PWR) at the Sizewell B site in Suffolk was the longest, most expensive and most wide ranging of its kind. Three topics dominated the proceedings: the economic justification for the project; the safety of the design; and the effect of construction and operation of the scheme on local people and their surroundings. This article looks at the way in which the Inquiry dealt with the need and economic arguments presented to it by proponents and objectors. The analysis centres on how the CEGB's case altered and why the Inquiry itself carried out an independent investigation of the economic analysis. (author)