Chinese firm ‘will not bid’ to run Essex nuclear plant,

Sources no longer expect planning applications to be submitted by China General Nuclear Power Group for Bradwell B

Ollie Cole, Times Radio |Geraldine Scott, Senior Political Correspondent. April 15 2025, The Times

Plans for China’s state-run nuclear company to develop and operate a proposed nuclear site in Essex will no longer go ahead, The Times can reveal amid renewed focus on Chinese involvement in Britain’s critical infrastructure.

Bradwell B, the proposed nuclear power station, was earmarked for investment by China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN) in 2015. CGN is the majority investor in the proposed development alongside French energy company EDF.

But government and industry sources told The Times and Times Radio they no longer expected planning applications to be submitted by CGN for the site, and EDF will look to take back the lease from the Chinese firm at the earliest opportunity.

The development comes as Jonathan Reynolds, the business and trade secretary, said Chinese firms

But government and industry sources told The
Times and Times Radio they no longer expected planning applications to be
submitted by CGN for the site, and EDF will look to take back the lease
from the Chinese firm at the earliest opportunity.

The development comes as
Jonathan Reynolds, the business and trade secretary, said Chinese firms
would be looked at in “a different way” should they bid for involvement
in British Steel.

CGN holds a 66.5 per cent majority share in the Bradwell
project and the site was said to be of key strategic importance to Beijing
as it would use the Chinese-developed and designed Hualong One reactor —
the first time it would be used in a developed country outside of China.

The company, which has been sanctioned by the United States and was charged
by the US Department of Justice with stealing nuclear secrets, was
initially involved in three major nuclear projects in Britain — Sizewell
C in Suffolk, Hinkley Point C in Somerset and Bradwell. But as
relationships with Beijing soured, the government paid about £100 million
to buy the firm out of Sizewell in 2022, and CGN halted its funding of
Hinkley in 2023 and therefore its stake has been receding.

In Bradwell CGN was due to operate as well as fund and develop the site, but government
sources now say they do not expect the developers to submit a planning
application. Warnings were raised by parliament’s security and
intelligence committee in 2023 when a report on China’s influence and
strategic aims in the UK characterised the plans for Bradwell B as
“opening a direct channel from the UK nuclear enterprise to the Chinese
state”.

It is understood that while EDF owns the site, it leases it to
CGN, but it expects to take the site back once an exit clause becomes
available. It is not clear when that would be. Industry sources said the
site was more likely to be used in the future to house small modular
reactors (SMRs). The Times previously revealed that Sir Keir Starmer wanted
a fleet of SMRs to be built across Britain alongside large power plants.

Times 15th April 2025 https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/chinese-firm-will-not-bid-to-run-essex-nuclear-plant-d0sd2ssvd