nuclear-news

Major American company pulls out of building Hitachi nuclear plant in Britain

U.S. firm pulls out of building Hitachi nuclear plant in Britain, THE ASAHI SHIMBUN, August 17, 2018 Major U.S. construction firm Bechtel Corp. is to withdraw from its key role in building a nuclear power plant in Britain due to concerns over the Hitachi Ltd.-helmed project’s profitability, sources said Aug. 16.

Bechtel made the decision based on its assessment that the drastic rise in construction costs would make it hard to make money on the project, the sources said.

The withdrawal deals a blow to Tokyo-based Hitachi, which lacks experience in nuclear power plant construction. The conglomerate could now face further difficulties in financing the project.

The Japanese government supports the construction project as an “export of nuclear power generation technologies,” but even so, its future is becoming more and more uncertain……..

if Horizon replaces Bechtel, it faces the risk that the construction costs will become higher than anticipated.

Hitachi is aiming to lower its stake in Horizon from the current 100 percent to less than 50 percent as a condition for the start of construction of the nuclear plant, and so it is asking other companies to invest in Horizon.

But if other companies are concerned over Horizon’s risk, they will hesitate to invest in it. As a result, Hitachi will face bigger difficulties in raising funds for construction and proceeding with the project.

(This article was written by Keiichi Kitagawa and Hisashi Naito.) http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201808170035.html

August 19, 2018 - Posted by Christina MacPherson | business and costs, politics international, UK