UK looks to China for investment in nuclear power

(CNS): As the Cayman government pulls out of talks with a Chinese company to build cruise berthing facilities as a result of pressure from the UK to get the talks back on track with best international procurement practice, the British government is currently in talks with China over an investment of billions of pounds in nuclear power stations there. Officials from China's nuclear industry have, according to reports in the UK media, been in high-level talks with ministers and officials at the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) about a plan that could involve up to five different reactors being built at a total cost of £35bn. Environmentalists have described the move as desperate, while others have warned of security fears.

However, the UK is currently courting China cash on a number of fronts and with the UK atomic programme hit by rows over subsidies. Chinses firms have already invested in other infrastructure assets in Britain, such as Thames Water, the port of Felixstowe and the Grangemouth oil refinery. They also own businesses, ranging from Weetabix to the Gieves & Hawkes tailoring brand.

A team from the Shanghai Nuclear Engineering Research and Design Institute (SNERDI), an arm of the huge China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC), reportedly met senior DECC officials recently to discuss a plan that involves CNNC and another state-owned firm, China Guangdong Nuclear Power Corporation, bidding in two separate groups against each other for a stake in the Horizon consortium, which wants to construct new atomic plants in the UK.

A DECC spokesperson told the Guardian that the UK “is open for business” and welcomed inward investment into the energy sector, but any nuclear partner would be, subject to rigorous scrutiny.

Greenpeace said the bid to woo China was a last throw of the dice by government. "This is a sign of desperation," said Doug Parr, chief scientist at Greenpeace.