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EDF Energy plans to cut the 4,000-strong workforce at the Hinkley Point C nuclear construction site by more than half after an outcry over plans to continue construction despite national efforts to stem the spread of the coronavirus.

The company said it would scale back the number of worker on Britain’s biggest construction site to less than 2,000 over the coming days after the prime minister told Britons they “must stay at home” through a 21-day lockdown.

The project will keep only skilled workers required for its specialist nuclear supply chain and focus on critical work on nuclear-specific parts of the project.

It will also introduce split shifts, extra buses and staggered breaks to allow for easier social distancing.

EDF Energy’s decision follows a report from the Guardian which revealed concerns over the close proximity of workers from across the country who have no choice but to use shared onsite accommodation and transit buses to access the site.

EDF Energy’s initial plan included increasing the number of buses to help staff maintain two metres of space between them, as well as banning handshakes.

The slowdown is likely to reignite concerns over the project’s costs. EDF Energy said last year that difficult ground conditions on the site meant that costs for the first new nuclear reactor in a generation had climbed by between £1.9bn to £2.9bn from the company’s last estimates to around £22bn.