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Work to develop the design of Horizon Nuclear Power’s proposed new plant at Wylfa in the UK is set to start.

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Horizon’s owner Hitachi wants to build new Advanced Boiling Water Reactors (ABWRs) in the UK, including at Wylfa.

ABWR plants are in operation at four sites in Japan, but have yet to be approved in Britain.

The agreement between the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) and Horizon will be seen as one of the first concrete milestones on the long road to building a new nuclear plant on Anglesey, and at Oldbury in Gloucestershire.

The last new reactor design to be agreed was in December last year for energy firms EDF and Areva, for sites at Hinkley Point, Somerset, and Sizewell at Suffolk.

The process to approve those designs took five years, costing an estimated £35m.

The new deal signed off by the ONR and Horizon-Hitachi ensures that the nuclear developers will foot the entire bill for putting the new ABWR designs under the microscope.

But the bill for assessing the reactor designs is seen as a tiny proportion of what could be an £8bn project for Anglesey.

Horizon’s chief operating officer, Alan Raymant said: “Now that the assessment agreements are in place, Hitachi-GE will be able to begin a meaningful preparatory process for their first major submissions to the regulator later this year.”

“GDA is a long term and rigorous process, which will ultimately determine whether the regulators will consider the ABWR suitable for construction in the UK.”

Ken Sato, the general manager for licensing at Hitachi Europe, added: “We are very pleased to have made such swift progress over the recent months.

“This is a key early step and we look forward to the development of between four and six ABWR reactors in the UK.”

Source: BBC News

Press TV – October 3, 2012

Chinese and French investors have dealt a blow to the British nuclear projects pulling out of a bid for buying a company that will be constructing two nuclear power reactors in Britain.

French nuclear engineering group Areva said it is no longer interested in buying into Horizon Nuclear Power that was supposed to build Wylfa reactor in Wales and Oldbury reactor in Gloucestershire.

Areva added that its Chinese partner the China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group (CGNPC) has also withdrawn its bid for the contract.

“Areva and CGNPC have suspended their interest in the planned sale of Horizon Nuclear Power and did not submit a bid,” an Areva spokeswoman said.

The news is a blow to the British government as Areva has the latest technology in line with European Pressurized Reactor (EPR) regulations needed for the project.

The withdrawals come amid other reports that another Chinese company China National Nuclear Power Corporation, which is the main backer of a US engineering group also bidding for the contract, is no more interested in the project.

The situation leaves London with a single bidder that is a consortium led by the Japanese Hitachi.

Horizon Nuclear Power was formerly run by German utilities E. ON and RWE that suddenly announced they want to drop out of their contracts on a short deadline last week.

Related articles

• United Kingdom: British nuclear plans suffer blow as Chinese investors pull out (guardian.co.uk)
• New UK nuclear power station plans suffer setback (guardian.co.uk)
• AREVA drops out of race for Britain’s Horizon nuclear project after 3 months (enformable.com)