EDF Selling U.K. Site for New Nuclear Plant

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--EDF Energy, the U.K. arm of French utility Electricite de France SA (EPA:EDF) (Paris), has kicked off the process to sell a prime site for building a new nuclear plant in the U.K.

The company has announced that land in Heysham, Lancashire or Dungeness in southeast Kent will be sold to make way for a new nuclear plant operator in the U.K. market. The sale was a conditional part of the agreement with the European Commission after it acquired British Energy last year. The company said it is "also in line with the policy of the U.K. government to have more than one developer of new nuclear power plants in the U.K."

Selling plots of land for new nuclear sites has proved to be a very lucrative business in the U.K. in recent months. The country's Nuclear Decommissioning Authority recently made $577 million in an online auction for three sites in Wylfa, North Wales; Oldbury, Gloucestershire; and Bradwell, Essex. The auctions were won by RWE AG (OTC:RWEOY) (Essen, Germany), E.ON AG (OTC:EONGY) (Duesseldorf, Germany) and EDF. For additional information, see May 1, 2009, news article - U.K. Nuclear Sites Sell for $577 Million.

Considering the recent stampede for new nuclear sites, EDF could potentially make hundreds of millions of dollars from the sale.

"We believe these sites have good potential for new build and will be attractive to potential developers of nuclear power plants," said Humphrey Cadoux-Hudson, Managing Director of Nuclear New Build at EDF Energy. "This is an important step towards government's objective of competition in new nuclear build in the U.K. It goes hand in hand with our own plans to build and operate four EPRs in the U.K. with the first operational by the end of 2017 as we seek to help address the country's long-term energy issues."

The sites will only be sold to creditable nuclear operators that already run nuclear facilities. GDF Suez (EPA:GSZ) (Paris) is expected to make a play for the new site after its consortium with Iberdrola Renovables SA (Valencia, Spain) and Scottish and Southern Energy Plc (LSE:SSE) (Perth, Scotland) failed to secure any of the recently sold three sites, withdrawing from the online auction when the bidding got too high.

The land sale will not affect the operational power stations at either potential site. These include two advanced gas-cooled reactors (AGR) in Dungeness that will continue to operate until 2018, while the four AGRs at the Heysham 1 and Heysham 2 stations are scheduled for decommissioning in 2014 and 2023, respectively.

EDF is aiming to build four new reactors at Sizewell in Suffolk and Hinkley Point, Somerset. The company will host a suppliers conference in the U.K. next month to outline the opportunities in its multibillion-dollar nuclear investment plan. For additional information, see May 13, 2009, news article - EDF to Host Suppliers Conference in London for Nuclear Opportunities.

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