Hitachi consortium close to buying UK’s Horizon nuclear project for around $628 million: report

A Hitachi-led consortium is close to buying UK's £15-billion ($23.78 billion) Horizon nuclear project in a deal expected to be worth more than 50 billion yen ($628 million), two Japanese media today reported.

Citing sources familiar with the matter, Asahi daily newspaper and Kyodo newswire said that Hitachi is expected get the approval of its board for the deal on Tuesday.

In March, Britain's plans to build a fleet of new generation nuclear plants for its energy needs suffered a setback after two German utilities pulled out from the Horizon nuclear project, citing the German government's decision to abandon nuclear power, as well as the economic crisis in Europe.

German energy giants RWE npower and E. ON had announced that they would not proceed with the $23.78 billion Horizon project to build nuclear reactors at Wylfa in North Wales and at Oldbury-on-Severn in Gloucestershire.

RWE and Eon were to build 6,000 MW of new nuclear power station capacity in the UK by 2025, and were planning to start construction of the first reactor by 2015.

The companies said they would look for a buyer for Horizon as quickly as possible to ensure that work on development can be taken up by other potential investors (See: E.ON seeks $9.99 bn in damages from German government for nuclear exit).