The Japanese company “Hitachi” announced on September 16th that it has decided to withdraw from the “Wylfa” nuclear power project in Wales, which had been planned for a long time, noting the deterioration of the investment environment due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
Work on the 20 billion pounds ($26 billion) project had been suspended since January 2019 after the company failed to reach a financing agreement with the UK government.
Nuclear energy supplies about 20% of Britain’s need of electricity, and the authorities want to maintain this percentage. Especially with the goal of achieving zero-carbon goal by 2050.
With the large costs of nuclear energy and less expensive competition stifling projects and developers in Japan, the United States and the United Kingdom, China is emerging as a leader in developing, constructing, and increasing NPPs domestically and abroad.
Hitachi had previously announced that it had no plans to sell the Wales nuclear power project to China.
This came after the publication of a press report stating that the administration of US President, Donald Trump, had warned “Hitachi” against selling its nuclear site in Anglesey, in Wales, to China. However, “Hitachi” confirmed that “it is not aware of any plans to sell the project to China.” The report stated that the China General Nuclear Energy Corporation (CGN) is keen to purchase the project as part of its plans to expand the Chinese fleet of nuclear power units.
