The decision by Japanese company Hitachi to pull out of plans to build a new nuclear power station in Wales “may accelerate government approval of a new station at Sizewell C” in Suffolk, BBC News reported, citing “government and industry sources”.
The BBC said the government taking a stake in the project to build two Generation III EPR units at Sizewell is one option being considered as it looks to “replace China’s CGN [China General Nuclear] as an investor”.
France’s EDF and CGN are 80% and 20% shareholders in the Sizewell C project. The cost of the project has been estimated at £18bn, although this has not been confirmed by either EDF or CGN.
After Sizewell C, CGN was set to build it’s a single HPR1000, or Hualong One, reactor design at Bradwell in Essex, but BBC News cited sources saying this idea “‘looks dead’, given revived security concerns and deteriorating diplomatic relations” between London and Beijing.
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