New nukes on the horizon

RWE npower and E.ON UK today announced further details of their nuclear joint venture, called Horizon Nuclear Power, which aims to develop a new nuclear power station at Wylfa on Anglesey.

Earlier this year the company secured development land at Wylfa and also at Oldbury-on-Severn in South Gloucestershire, enabling a programme of new nuclear power station development to begin that could involve more than £15bn of investment.

The newly appointed chief operating officer of Horizon Nuclear Power, Alan Raymant, said: ‘We believe Wylfa is a very good site for the potential development of a new nuclear power station and we look forward to working with the people of Anglesey and North Wales to make it a reality.

‘In addition to our work on Anglesey, one of our key next steps will be to complete the process of selecting the reactor technology for the site.’

The 50:50 joint venture between RWE npower and E.ON UK was created in January and aims to develop around 6,000MW of new nuclear capacity in the UK - enough to power a city the size of greater London - by 2025. 

The first reactor is expected to come online around 2020.

A new power station at Wylfa could create up to 5,000 jobs during construction and around 800 permanent operational, training and maintenance roles, potentially increasing to 1000 including support staff.

Horizon Nuclear Power will have an initial focus on consenting and constructing new nuclear power stations that will have a 60-year lifetime.

E.ON and RWE have interests in 23 nuclear reactors in Germany and Sweden, including two jointly owned reactors at Gundremmingen and one at Lingen.