RWE and E.ON Sell U.K. Nuclear Venture

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland) -- There is renewed hope for the U.K.'s new nuclear power drive with the announcement that the Horizon Nuclear Power joint venture has been bought by Hitachi Ltd (Tokyo, Japan) for €863 million ($1.1 billion).

The good news arrive just weeks after French engineering giant, Areva SA (EPA:CEI) (Paris, France) and its Chinese partner, China Guangdong Nuclear Power Corporation (CGNPC) (Shenzhen), dropped out of the bidding process. For additional information, see October 10, 2012, article - U.K.'s Nuclear Revival Hit Again.

Horizon, a joint venture created by German energy giants RWE AG (OTC:RWEOY) (Essen, Germany) and E.ON AG (OTC:EONGY) (Dusseldorf, Germany), has won the rights to develop up to 6,000-megawatts (MW) of new nuclear projects at Wylfa and Oldbury. However, earlier this year, both companies dropped their U.K. plans. For additional information, see March 30, 2012 article - RWE and E.ON Drop U.K. Nuclear Power Joint Venture.

On announcing the deal with Hitachi, E.ON and RWE confirmed that Hitachi will take over the ongoing development of Horizon's plans for new nuclear power in the U.K. The transaction is expected to complete by the end of November. The U.K. government is hoping to get the first of its new wave of nuclear reactors up and running by the middle of the next decade.

"This is an important day not just for the staff at Horizon but also for whole of the U.K.," commented E.ON UK, Chief Executive, Dr. Tony Cocker. "Throughout this process we have been clear that new nuclear developments have a vital role to play in helping the U.K. produce the low carbon electricity it will need."

Executive Officer and President of Hitachi, Ltd, Hiroaki Nakanishi added: "I am extremely pleased that we have been successful in acquiring Horizon Nuclear Power. Today starts our 100 year commitment to the U.K. and its vision to achieve a long-term, secure, low-carbon, and affordable energy supply."

The deal was welcomed by U.K. Prime Minister, David Cameron: "I am determined that Britain competes and thrives in the global race for investment. This is a decades-long, multi-billion pound vote of confidence in the U.K., that will contribute vital new infrastructure to power our economy. It 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 U.K.'s nuclear supply chain. I warmly welcome Hitachi as a major new player in the U.K. energy sector."

Hitachi has developed and installed its Advanced Boiling Water Reactor (ABWR) technology outside of the U.K., which it claims is the "only advanced nuclear technology (Generation III.PLUS) in operation in the world". There are four ABWRs in operation In Japan and the technology has been licensed in other countries. It is unknown whether Hitachi will be proposing the ABWRs as potential reactors for the proposed Wylfa and Oldbury projects.

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