China mulling investment in UK's new nuclear plans

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/may/04/china-investment-uk-nuclear-plants

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China looks set to step into the vacuum left in the UK's nuclear new build programme, after reports this morning revealed two groups from the country are interested in buying the Horizon joint venture put up for sale by E.On and RWE in March.

The German companies appointed Japanese bank Nomura to find a buyer for sites at Wylfa in north Wales and Oldbury-on-Severn in Gloucestershire, and the <em>Financial Times</em> reports today that a number of firms are now involved in negotiations, including a European consortia, sovereign wealth funds, and Chinese state-owned power companies.

The paper says the government and Horizon have been talking to two new consortia, while GDF is considering a bid with Iberdrola, its partner in nuclear operation Nugen.

Another consortium involved comprises Westinghouse Electric, owned by Toshiba, along with a western utility, a Chinese group – named by the <em>FT </em>as either China Guangdong Nuclear Power or China's State Nuclear Power Technology Corporation – and potentially a sovereign wealth fund.

The Chancellor George Osborne has been keen to attract Chinese investment to help revamp the UK's creaking energy infrastructure. The government is also under mounting pressure to identify viable investors for its plans for new nuclear reactors, after withdrawals by SSE and Horizon left its plans to build 16GW of new nuclear power in the UK by 2025 in danger of collapse.

However, any involvement from Chinese firms or sovereign wealth funds is likely to further fuel criticism of the government's nuclear plans from green groups, who have already accused ministers of handing control of key energy assets to foreign firms.

Four former heads of campaign group Friends of the Earth wrote to the Prime Minister in March urging him to abandon plans for another generation of nuclear reactors and instead funnel investment towards building up renewable energy sources.

Not only were the signatories concerned about the cost of building the plants and dealing with the associated waste, but they also warned that the plans put the UK's future energy policy in the hands of two French companies – EDF and Areva.