U.K.'s $18 Billion Wylfa Nuclear Project Adds New Partners

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--Hitachi Nuclear Energy Europe has appointed three key partners for its 2.7-gigawatt (GW) nuclear power generation plant at Wylfa on the Isle of Anglesey in the U.K.

The company, Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy (Wilmington, North Carolina) (Hitachi-GE), has recruited Atkins (Sheffield, England), KBR Incorporated (NYSE:KBR) (Houston, Texas) and Wood Group plc (Aberdeen, Scotland) for the $18 billion project. Atkins will support civil engineering design for the nuclear island, while engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) firm KBR will work on project controls, and UK-based engineering firm Wood will support architect engineering. They will join Bechtel, which was appointed as the project management contractor.

The project is being overseen by Horizon Nuclear Power, which was bought out by Hitachi in 2012. Horizon plans to use two ABWR reactors at the Wylfa site. Industrial Info reported that Hitachi's U.K. Advanced Boiling Water Reactor (U.K. ABWR) had passed the rigorous four-year Generic Design Assessment (GDA) at the end of last year. For additional information, see December 20, 2018, article -U.K. Approves Hitachi-GE Nuclear Reactors. Horizon also has plans to build a bigger nuclear plant, Oldbury II, in Oldbury-on-Severn in South Gloucestershire, England, with a capacity of 3,900 megawatts (MW).

Hitachi Nuclear Energy Europe Project Director Eric Chassard said: "Wood has been involved in every nuclear new-build in U.K. history. KBR and Atkins are also world leaders in their fields, with clear and proven experience on projects of this scale and complexity. The pedigree, expertise and detailed knowledge of all three partners are second to none. We are rapidly developing a team of the world's most capable companies as we prepare to deliver the Nuclear Island and Architect-Engineering for Wylfa Newydd, and couldn't have found stronger partners to support us. Once operational, the Welsh nuclear power plant is expected to employ up to 850 people, and during the peak construction phase, the plant is expected to hire 9,000 people."

The project was expected to kick off in mid-2019 and be commissioned in mid-2025, but it is expected to run a few years late. Recently, plans to clear a site measuring just more than a square mile (740 acres) to build the new power station were approved, despite strong opposition. Clearing the site will take an estimated 15 months.

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