Hitachi in earnest talks with UK on n-reactor project

May 5, 2018

Tokyo- Hitachi Ltd. has entered into full-fledged negotiations with Britain's government on conditions for moving forward with a project to build nuclear power reactors on an island in the country, it has been learned.

On Thursday, Hiroaki Nakanishi, chairman of the major Japanese machinery maker, visited Downing Street and held talks with British Prime Minister Theresa May.

With Hitachi eager to reduce the business risk associated with the large-scale project, whose overall costs are estimated at some 3 trillion yen, Nakanishi is believed to have sought support from the British government, such as financial aid, while suggesting the possibility of withdrawing from the project.

"It's impossible for Hitachi to bear all related costs," Nakanishi told reporters in April.

Hitachi has been asking public institutions in Japan and Britain to invest in British company Horizon Nuclear Power Ltd., which was acquired by the Japanese firm in 2012, and to guarantee private-sector loans for the project.

As a major condition for going ahead with the project, Hitachi is seeking to lower its stake in the fully owned British unit to less than 50 percent by soliciting investment from the public and private sectors in the two countries.

While the Japanese government has sounded positive about providing support, Hitachi has yet to win assurance for assistance from the British government, which faces fiscal constraints, informed sources said.

Through Horizon Nuclear Power, Hitachi plans to build two nuclear reactors on the British island of Anglesey, hoping to start operating them in the early 2020s at the earliest.

Hitachi is set to make a final decision in late 2019 on whether to build the reactors.

For the Japanese government, promoting exports of the nation's nuclear power technology is a pillar in its economic growth strategy.

The British government had been showing its interest in the project, due to concerns about future electricity shortages in the country.

Nuclear power plant costs have ballooned, however, as the serious accident at Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.'s disaster-stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan has made it necessary to strengthen safety measures. Jiji Press