Hitachi buys British nuclear power firm

Hitachi will build three nuclear power plants in the UK.

Hitachi, Ltd. will buy Horizon Nuclear Power, a British energy company that will build nuclear power plants on existing sites at Wylfa, Anglesey, and Oldbury, near Bristol. Hitachi is buying Horizon from Germany's E.On and RWE, which is forsaking the UK nuclear market.

Hitachi has signed a £700m deal to start building a new generation of nuclear power plants. Prime Minister David Cameron said the deal is “. . . a decades-long, multi-billion pound vote of confidence in the UK, that will contribute vital new infrastructure to power our economy.”

He noted that the deal will support up to 12,000 jobs during construction and thousands more permanent highly skilled roles once the new power plants are operational, as well as stimulating exciting new industrial investments in the UK's nuclear supply chain.

“I warmly welcome Hitachi as a major new player in the UK energy sector," he said.

Hitachi intends to build 6 gigawatts of nuclear capacity, with the first plant becoming operational in the first half of the next decade. Its proposed reactors will use its advanced boiling water technology that is being used in four reactors in Japan.

Hitachi intends to build two to three Advanced boiling water reactors (ABWR) on each site, but will first require a Generic Design Assessment for the ABWR by the Office for Nuclear Regulation, which will take about four years.