If this happens, Hitachi will be the second Japanese company to withdraw from a power plant in UK after Toshiba Corp. abandoned its Moorside plant in November, 2018.
According to experts, the Japanese company can no longer invest money in the project so the construction work was paused in order to negotiate with the British government over funding that has been delayed. Hiroaki Nakanishi, Hitachi's chairman, said: “It’s a tough situation. We’re at the limit.”
Britain's energy infrastructure is now under crisis as old reactors and coal plants are shut down and power was supposed to be produced by nuclear plants. If Japanese companies decide not to cooperate, UK's unique alternative to keep constructing nuclear stations is China.
After the nuclear accident in Fukushima (2011), the majority of Europe decided to reject nuclear power. However, UK insisted on utilizing nuclear energy as it is eco-friendlier than coal-fired power stations. “The UK politicians will still press ahead with nuclear and thus will now have to offer more attractive conditions to the developers to make sure we build enough atomic capacity to replace aging reactors in a timely manner,” said Elchin Mammadov, a utility analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence in London.
The former first minister of Wales, Carwyn Jones, made an interesting statement concerning the priorities of UK: "What is troubling me this morning, having heard that news, is this is a case of the UK government being so focused on Brexit that they are not focused on other issues. And there are bread and butter issues that are hugely important for people living on Anglesey."
If completed, the nuclear power station will be able to produce 2900 MW by the mid-2020s with an operational period of 60 years.
Sources: FT.com, Bloomberg.com, BBC.com
