Toshiba boss is keen on British nuclear project
TOSHIBA is keen to take a majority stake in UK nuclear consortium NuGen, its chief executive said yesterday, as firms and ministers try to get Britain’s atomic power plan moving.
Hisao Tanaka told Reuters yesterday that Toshiba, which owns Westinghouse, will decide this year whether to bid for Iberdrola’s 50 per cent stake in NuGen, which has the right to build new reactors at Sellafield.
Last week there were reports that the government was considering a new auction of the NuGen site earmarked for the new reactor, in a sign of frustration at the delays besetting the scheme.
Meanwhile, energy minister Michael Fallon said he expects a decision “within weeks” about the stalled Hinkley Point C power plant in Somerset.
Fallon told the Financial Times he was “working intensely” with EDF on the project, which has been held up by a disagreement about the price to be paid for the power generated at the site.
Centrica pulled out of the Hinkley Point programme in February over increasing costs and delays, leaving partner EDF to lead work on Britain’s first new nuclear station since 1995.