As part of his recent UK budget statement, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said: “I can announce that this week the government has reached agreement on a £160m ($203m) deal with Hitachi to purchase the Wylfa site in Ynys Môn and the Oldbury site in South Gloucestershire.” This was confirmed in paragraph 5.120 of the Budget Statement. Hunt said the purchase had been made "given the importance of securing nuclear sites for the success of the nuclear programme".
In January 2021, Hitachi subsidiary Horizon Nuclear Power notified the UK Planning Inspectorate that it was withdrawing its application for a Development Consent Order (DCO) for Wylfa Newydd on Anglesey where it had planned to construct a nuclear power plant with two UK Advanced Boiling Water Reactors. The £20bn project had been expected to provide employment and business opportunities for the region.
Hitachi had announced the suspension of the project in January 2019 and its intent to withdraw entirely in September 2020. In light of this, and in the absence of a new funding policy from HM Government, Hitachi decided to wind-up Horizon as an active development entity by 31 March 2021. Hitachi continued to manage the site under the control of its subsidiary Hitachi Europe Limited. "This will be done with a view to considering development proposals from commercial or public sector developers who may come forward, and Horizon will continue to support this intent until the end of March,” said Horizon CEO Duncan Hawthorne. “Beyond this period Hitachi Europe will remain available to respond to any parties who may have an interest in acquiring these sites."
In his budget speech, Hunt added that, as well as seeking a site for a new large-scale NPP, "the government is now moving to the next stage of the SMR process, with six companies invited to submit their initial tender responses by June this year". He added that "no decisions have been taken on projects". The government earlier outlined plans to increase nuclear energy capacity to 24 GWe by 2050, with a fleet of small modular reactors (SMRs) as part of that strategy. In 2023, the government and the new Great British Nuclear (GNB) arms-length body set up to help deliver extra nuclear capacity began the selection process for a suitable SMR technology. In October, EDF, GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy, Holtec, NuScale Power, Rolls Royce SMR and Westinghouse were invited to bid for UK government contracts in the next stage of that process.
Image: CGI of former plans for a nuclear site at Wylfa Newydd in Anglesey, off the northwestern coast of Wales
