Japan’s Hitachi has made it clear that it has no plans to sell a British nuclear power project to China.
The company statement came after the British Sunday Times published a report saying that the administration of US President Donald Trump had warned Hitachi against selling its nuclear site in Anglesey, Wales, to China. Hitachi said: “We are not aware of any plans to sell the project to China.”
Last August, US Department of Commerce–Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) announced that it will include China General Nuclear (CGN) and its four affiliated companies in the Entity List to which U.S. companies are effectively barred from exporting products.
The report stated that the China General Nuclear Energy Corporation (CGN) is keen to purchase the project within the framework of plans to expand its fleet of nuclear reactors.
Last year, Hitachi halted the three trillion yen ($ 28 billion) project after the project failed to find private investors. Sources said at the time that Hitachi urged the British government to enhance financial support for the project to reassure investors, but the turmoil over the country’s exit from the EU at the time limited the government’s ability to do so.
As for the British nuclear project, Hitachi is expected to decide what to do with it in September.
