A project to build a huge nuclear power station in north Wales is to be wound down by the end of March, threatening hopes of its resurrection via a sale.
Japan’s Hitachi has told staff it will shut its Horizon subsidiary, which was to build a £20bn nuclear power plant at Wylfa on Anglesey, by March 31. That could scupper a sale of the site, despite interest from bidders including a US consortium of Bechtel, Southern Company and Westinghouse, and dent Britain’s clean energy aims.
Hitachi said in September it would not proceed with the plan, despite having put £2bn into it, but the haste to shut it down and dismiss remaining staff has sparked concern.
The Wylfa site is seen as one of the most promising for a new nuclear power station. Horizon also has plans for a plant in Gloucestershire, but sources said the company needed to remain solvent for several more months if it was to be sold as a going concern.
Horizon boss Duncan Hawthorne last month wrote to planning officers to say “discussions with multiple parties have been positive and encouraging with regards to finding a way forward in Hitachi’s absence”. Boris Johnson has committed to backing “at least one large-scale nuclear project” in the energy white paper. Horizon declined to comment.