Hitachi abandons UK nuclear power station projects

Horizon Nuclear Electricity will quit building two United kingdom jobs following a choice by Hitachi to pull out of the scheme.

The decision to abandon setting up new power stations at Wylfa Newydd on Anglesey and at Oldbury on Severn, in South Gloucestershire, specials a substantial blow to the nuclear industry and hopes of making thousands of new positions.

Hitachi announced it will conclusion enterprise operations on the nuclear power plant construction job at Wylfa, which was suspended in January 2019.

The Japanese corporation reported: “Hitachi made this choice specified that 20 months have handed due to the fact the suspension, and the financial investment environment has come to be significantly extreme owing to the effect of Covid-19.”

Horizon chief govt Duncan Hawthorne reported: “I understand this announcement will be disappointing for our lots of supporters who experienced hoped to see our job by means of to completion. Wylfa Newydd on Anglesey and Oldbury on Severn are remarkably desirable web sites for new nuclear develop. We will do our utmost to aid the prospective buyers for development.”

Tom Greatrex, chief govt of the Nuclear Marketplace Affiliation, reported: “Wylfa is almost certainly the greatest website in the United kingdom for new nuclear capacity, and has potent local community and stakeholder support.

“It is crucial that a way forward is found for the website, to deliver thousands of positions, hundreds of apprenticeships and thousands and thousands of lbs . of financial investment into an financial improve for the place although delivering protected, responsible and low-carbon power to underpin the UK’s changeover to net zero.”