UK to buy out China General Nuclear’s share of Sizewell C nuclear plant
The UK government will pay £100m to a Chinese state-owned firm to buy out their share in the Sizewell C nuclear plant.
The taxpayer buyout of China General Nuclear’s (CGN) 20 per cent share will mean the UK government and French state-owned EDF will take a 50-50 equity split for the Suffolk nuclear plant.
It will come as a part of the government’s £700m investment into the plant, which was confirmed by chancellor Jeremy Hunt in this month’s autumn fiscal statement.
The Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Beis) said the cost of the buyout was “commercially confidential”, however several sources told The Times it will come to £100m.
Business secretary Grant Shapps today told MPs: “I can confirm to him that China are now bought out of the deal on Sizewell and the money yesterday ensured that they are no longer involved in this particular development.”
A Beis spokesperson said: “The payment to CGN covers the value of their shareholding, their contribution to the project’s development and a commercial return reflecting their work to date.”
David Cameron struck the deal in 2015 to have CGN buy a 20 per cent stake in the future nuclear plant, set to be built by the 2030s, during the so-called “golden era” of UK-China relations.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak last night told the Lord Mayor’s banquet at Guildhall that the “golden era” was over, while also calling for more “cooperation and engagement” with Beijing.
The removal of CGN from Sizewell C comes in the wake of long held security fears about letting Beijing-controlled entities own stakes in vital British infrastructure.
It is expected that Sizewell C will generate enough low-carbon energy to power 6m homes when it opens.
The government moved in 2020 to ban Chinese telecoms giant Huawei from helping build the UK’s 5G infrastructure out of fears it could be used by Beijing for surveillance purposes.
Sunak last night said China “poses a systemic challenge to our values and interests”, but that “we cannot simply ignore China’s significance in world affairs”.
“The US, Canada, Australia, Japan and many others understand this too,” he said.
“So together we’ll manage this sharpening competition, including with diplomacy and engagement.”
The statement was a climbdown from his tough rhetoric against the Chinese Communist Party during the Tory leadership race and may mark a thawing in British-Sino relations.