Iberdrola to sell stake in NuGen nuclear consortium to Toshiba

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/dec/23/iberdrola-to-sell-nugen-nuclear-stake-toshiba

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The Spanish utility provider Iberdrola has agreed to sell its 50% stake in the British nuclear consortium NuGen to Japan's Toshiba in a deal that will boost the UK's nuclear construction plans.

NuGen, a joint venture between Iberdrola and the French utility firm GDF Suez, owns a site at Sellafield in Cumbria, where its plan to provide 3.6 gigawatts of nuclear capacity has stalled amid government delays.

The government wants to replace aging and polluting power plants by the middle of the next decade and says it is keen to encourage investment in new nuclear power stations. But regulatory changes after Japan's Fukushima accident and squabbles about how much public money should be handed to companies for new plants have slowed progress.

Iberdrola said on Monday it had sold its NuGen stake to Toshiba, which owns nuclear plant builder Westinghouse, for £85m. Iberdrola has a large British presence as the owner of Scottish Power but has been selling assets to reduce debt.

The agreement, which will require regulatory approval, will give Toshiba a foothold in Britain, where Hitachi, Japan's other nuclear technology supplier, acquired the Horizon nuclear project last year and is planning to build up to three nuclear power plants.

The deal comes two months after the government approved a deal with France's EDF Energy to build the £16bn Hinkley Point nuclear power plant in Somerset.

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