The much-delayed sale of British Energy to a French Government-dominated utility could finally arrive tomorrow, neatly coinciding with figures from the buyer, EDF. Or it could be next week. This one has been dragging on so long that there were serious concerns that it would arrive too late to allow the creation of a new generation of nuclear plants before the existing ones start to be shut down in less than a decade.

It will also raise some awkward political questions, alongside the inevitable financial ones. For a start, there is the notion of “privatising” such a vital business by selling it to one that is one-third controlled by a foreign government - and one that, expect it to be pointed out yet again, was prepared to declare Danone, the yoghurt maker, a strategic national asset rather than see it slip into foreign hands.

Expect, therefore, that the sale will be accompanied by ringing endorsements of EDF, its commitment to this country, the business to be headquartered here, etc, etc. The simple fact is that we lack the necessary expertise and technology in this country to build new nukes, at least for now, and the French are the nearest provider.

BE is not exactly going to al-Qaeda. Should any future French Government, for whatever unimaginable geo-political reasons, cut up rough, there is potential for bringing it back into public control. Though the company would inevitably wince at the comparison, look at what happened to Railtrack.

There are concerns that it will lessen liquidity in the wholesale market for electricity, by taking out one of only three big players in an arena used by suppliers that do not also generate power, with inevitable consequences for competition. Expect, therefore, an insistence from BE that it will continue to operate in a commercial fashion. The other two are Drax and International Power; the fact is the BE is in no position to turn such business down. Existing customers in the wholesale market might not get the cut-price deals on offer today from BE. They will moan.

There is concern that EDF will have control of many of the sites where the next generation of plants can be built, so increasing its monopoly. The French have, indeed, recently bought suitable land in Anglesey and at Hinkley Point, Somerset, the probable site of the first new EDF nuke. Expect promises that at least some of the new generation of plants will be built by another company, probably E.ON, EDF or Iberdrola of Spain, all of which were interested in BE, and that the appropriate sites will be made available.

The purchase shrinks the number of large generators in the UK from six to five. That is unlikely to raise too many competition worries but expect the observation that other big European countries such as Germany and France do with rather fewer.

The fact is, worse things could happen than our nuclear industry go to the French. Far worse, we do our usual shilly-shallying around, multiple planning inquiries, protests, the whole caboodle, and the new generation will not be built by the mid to late teens, when the existing plants will have to go off line. That is when the lights go out.

Expect plenty more debate on this subject, though.

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