Horizon Nuclear Power is a British energy company that is expected to build new nuclear power stations in the United Kingdom. It was established in 2009, with its head office in Gloucester, and is now owned by Hitachi.
Video Horizon Nuclear Power
Early history
The company was established in 2009 as an E.ON UK and RWE npower joint venture. The company announced its intention to install about 6,000 MWe of new nuclear capacities adjacent to the existing Wylfa and Oldbury nuclear power stations. Horizon initially evaluated building either Areva 1,650 MWe EPR reactors or Westinghouse 1,100 MWe AP1000 reactors between 2020 and 2024.
In March 2012 E.ON and RWE npower placed Horizon up for sale as a going concern. One bidder was a joint venture of China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group and the China National Nuclear Corporation.
However, on 29 October 2012 it was announced that Hitachi would buy Horizon for £696 million, and the sale was completed on 26 November 2012.
Maps Horizon Nuclear Power
Hitachi ownership
Hitachi intends to build two to three 1,350 MWe Advanced Boiling Water Reactors (ABWR) on each site, but first required a Generic Design Assessment (GDA) for the ABWR by the Office for Nuclear Regulation. The assessment began in April 2013, with an agreement that the costs of assessment will be covered by Hitachi-GE. In August 2014, the proposed reactor type reached the third stage, out of four, in the GDA process.
Horizon in 2013 planned initial site work at Wylfa to begin in 2015, with building work starting in 2018 and generation starting in the mid-2020s. However later Horizon delayed the start of site work until after the GDA is completed.
In January 2016 Hitachi announced a new UK company, Hitachi Nuclear Energy Europe, to lead a proposed joint venture with Bechtel and JGC Corporation, to cover the engineering, procurement and construction of Horizon's nuclear plants in the UK. Horizon Nuclear Power will continue to work on obtaining regulatory consents and making commercial arrangements. However, later in the month Hiroaki Nakanishi, chairman and chief executive of Hitachi, expressed serious concerns to Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond over financing the development, following EDF's difficulty in financing its Hinkley Point C nuclear power station development. Hitachi is currently negotiating with the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) on electricity price guarantees, called Contracts for Difference (CfD). The first project at Wylfa will be financed externally, with Hitachi only taking a minority stake.
In May 2016 Duncan Hawthorne, previously CEO of Bruce Power in Canada, was appointed CEO of Horizon. In February 2017 Horizon contracted U.S. Exelon to provide expert staff to assist in developing Horizon's nuclear operating model.
The ABWR GDA process completed successfully in December 2017.
As of 2017, Horizon plans to build two ABWRs at each site, subject to finance and contract agreement. Horizon believes a consensus now of government and industry is that the Contract for Difference financing model used for Hinkley Point C nuclear power station, involving fully private sector financing, will not used for subsequent nuclear plants, and discussions with government are under way about alternative finance mechanisms. Hawthorne, Horizon CEO, stated "We are an insurance policy for long-term stable supply and there is a price for that certainty".
See also
- Economics of new nuclear power plants
References
External links
- Horizon Nuclear Power
- UK Advanced Boiling Water Reactor, Hitachi
Source of article : Wikipedia
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