It has been revealed that South Korea’s nuclear state developer discussed the construction of a multi-billion-pound plant in Wales, with the UK government.
Kepco, South Korea’s largest utility company, has had early-stage talks with Westminster officials regarding the development of the Wylfa Newydd on the island Anglesey.
As part of the UK-South Korea civil energy dialogue, the energy minister Andrew Bowie will meet with representatives of the company to discuss this matter.
The government wants to revive the nuclear project in order to increase the current 6 GW production to 24 Gigawatts by 2050.
Hitachi withdrew from the site in early 2019, citing rising costs. This put the future of the site into question.
In March of this year, the UK chancellor Jeremy Hunt confirmed that the UK had reached an agreement with Hitachi for a £160m purchase of Wylfa, and the Oldbury site in Gloucestershire. The hope was to find new investors.
The FT quoted a source as saying: “Kepco has expressed interest in the project, and is currently in discussions with the UK Government about it.” An official in the UK who was briefed in this matter stated that the talks are at a very early stage.
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero stated: “Wylfa is a project with excellent potential and we welcome all interested parties looking to invest.”
Kim Dong-cheol was the Kepco chairman and chief executive. He visited Wylfa last November, as part of a South Korean delegation looking into UK nuclear opportunities.
Virginia Crosbie, MP for Ynys Mon , said that the delegation told her it was “a better nuclear facility than any they have” because its grid connection, and abundance of cool water around the site.
Kepco has also signed a Memorandum of Understanding last year with global engineering, management and site development consultancy Mott McDonald to explore UK nuclear opportunity and support the company in licensing and site developments.
Bechtel and Westinghouse, an American nuclear developer, have proposed building a Wylfa plant using Westinghouse AP1000 technology.
Kepco will use the APR1400 technology that was recently deployed at Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant in United Arab Emirates.
Another option for the Wylfa Site is to host new small modular reactors which are designed to be quicker to build than large plant, but the technology has not been proven.
Great British Nuclear will make the decision about the technology provider and the type of technology to be used at Wylfa. The company was founded with the goal of providing new power plants, including a SMR fleet.
The UK has nuclear ambitions but only one plant is currently under construction: Hinkley Point C, in Somerset. Sizewell C, a sister project in Suffolk, was granted a license for constructing atomic power plants just last week .
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