Hitachi ditches British nuclear power plant

Horizon, the British subsidiary of Hitachi, Japan, has formally submitted its Withdrawal of Application for a planned two-reactor nuclear power plant in North Wales. In a letter dated January 27, Horizon chief, Duncan Hawthorne, whose company is being wound up, admitted that there was simply no viable interest from other parties in the site after Hitachi announced last September it was abandoning the nuclear $27 billion boondoggle.

"In that previous correspondence I referred to discussions with third parties that have expressed an interest in progressing with the development of new nuclear generation at the Wylfa Newydd site in Anglesey, Wales following the withdrawal of Hitachi Ltd. Whilst these discussions with multiple parties have been positive and encouraging with regards to developing a way forward, they have not, unfortunately, led to any definitive proposal that would have allowed the transfer of the sites to some new development entity willing to replace Hitachi Ltd," Hawthorne wrote. (Pictured is the existing, closed, Wylfa A reactor site.)