Horizon Nuclear Power
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Horizon Nuclear Power is a British
energy company The energy industry refers to all of the industries involved in the production and sale of energy, including fuel extraction, manufacturing, refining and distribution. Modern society consumes large amounts of fuel, and the energy industry is a cr ...
that was expected to build new
nuclear power stations A nuclear power plant (NPP), also known as a nuclear power station (NPS), nuclear generating station (NGS) or atomic power station (APS) is a thermal power station in which the heat source is a nuclear reactor. As is typical of thermal power st ...
in the United Kingdom. It was established in 2009, with its head office in
Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city, non-metropolitan district and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West England, South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean ...
, and is now owned by
Hitachi () is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1910 and headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo. The company is active in various industries, including digital systems, power and renewable ener ...
. On 17 January 2019, Horizon suspended its UK nuclear development programme.


Early history

The company was established in 2009 as an E.ON UK and
RWE Npower npower Business Solutions is a British supplier of gas and electricity to large businesses. It has been a subsidiary of E.ON UK since January 2019. The company was formerly known as Innogy plc and was listed on the London Stock Exchange and wa ...
joint venture. The company announced its intention to install about 6,000
MWe The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kgâ‹…m2â‹…s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named in honor o ...
of new nuclear capacity adjacent to the existing Wylfa and Oldbury nuclear power stations. Horizon initially evaluated building either Areva 1,650MWe EPR reactors or Westinghouse 1,100MWe
AP1000 The AP1000 is a nuclear power plant designed and sold by Westinghouse Electric Company. The plant is a pressurized water reactor with improved use of passive nuclear safety and many design features intended to lower its capital cost and improve ...
reactors between 2020 and 2024. In March 2012, E.ON and RWE Npower placed Horizon up for sale as a
going concern A going concern is an accounting term for a business that is assumed will meet its financial obligations when they become due. It functions without the threat of liquidation for the foreseeable future, which is usually regarded as at least the n ...
. One bidder was a joint venture of China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group and the
China National Nuclear Corporation The China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC; ) is a state-owned enterprise founded in 1955 in Beijing. CNNC's president and vice-president are appointed by the Premier of the People's Republic of China. CNNC oversees all aspects of China's civ ...
. However, on 29 October 2012, it was announced that
Hitachi () is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1910 and headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo. The company is active in various industries, including digital systems, power and renewable ener ...
would buy Horizon for £696 million, and the sale was completed on 26 November 2012.


Hitachi ownership

Hitachi intended to build two to three 1,350MWe Advanced Boiling Water Reactors (ABWR) on each site, but first required a ''Generic Design Assessment'' (GDA) for the ABWR by the Office for Nuclear Regulation. The assessment began in April 2013, with an agreement that the costs of the assessment would be covered by Hitachi-GE. In August 2014, the proposed reactor type reached the third stage, out of four, in the GDA process. In 2013, Horizon planned initial site work at Wylfa to begin in 2015, with building work starting in 2018 and generation starting in the mid-2020s. However, later Horizon delayed the start of site work until after the GDA is completed. In January 2016, Hitachi announced a new UK company, Hitachi Nuclear Energy Europe, to lead a proposed joint venture with
Bechtel Bechtel Corporation () is an American engineering, procurement, construction, and project management company founded in San Francisco, California in 1898, and headquartered in Reston, Virginia in the Washington metropolitan area. , the '' E ...
and JGC Corporation, to cover the engineering, procurement and construction of Horizon's nuclear plants in the UK. Horizon Nuclear Power would continue to work on obtaining regulatory consents and making commercial arrangements. However, later in the month Hiroaki Nakanishi, chairman and chief executive of Hitachi, expressed serious concerns to the Foreign Secretary
Philip Hammond Philip Hammond, Baron Hammond of Runnymede (born 4 December 1955) is a British politician and life peer who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2016 to 2019 and Foreign Secretary from 2014 to 2016, having previously served as Defence ...
over financing the scheme, following EDF's difficulty in financing Hinkley Point C. Hitachi negotiated with the
Department of Energy and Climate Change The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) was a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, department of the government of the United Kingdom created on 3 October 2008, by Prime Minister Gordon Brown to take over some of the ...
(DECC) on electricity price guarantees, called Contracts for Difference (CfD). The first project at Wylfa would be financed externally, with Hitachi only taking a minority stake. In May 2016, Duncan Hawthorne, previously CEO of
Bruce Power Bruce Power Limited Partnership is a Canadian business partnership composed of several corporations. It exists (as of 2015) as a partnership between TC Energy (31.6%), BPC Generation Infrastructure Trust (61.4%), the Power Workers Union (4%) an ...
in Canada, was appointed CEO of Horizon. In February 2017 Horizon contracted U.S.
Exelon Exelon Corporation is an American public utility headquartered in Chicago, and incorporated in Pennsylvania. Exelon is the largest electric parent company in the United States by revenue and is the largest regulated electric utility in the Uni ...
to provide expert staff to assist in developing Horizon's nuclear operating model. The ABWR GDA process was completed successfully in December 2017. As of 2017, Horizon planned to build two ABWRs at each site, subject to finance and contract agreement. Horizon believed that the consensus of government and industry was that the Contract for Difference financing model used for Hinkley Point C nuclear power station, involving fully private sector financing, would not be used for subsequent nuclear plants, and discussions were held with government about alternative financing models. Hawthorne, Horizon CEO, stated "We are an insurance policy for a long-term stable supply and there is a price for that certainty". In December 2018, Hitachi's chairman stated they were struggling to find investors for the Wylfa plant. Later
TV Asahi JOEX-DTV (channel 5), branded as , and better known as , is a Japanese television station serving the Kanto region as the flagship station of the All-Nippon News Network. It is owned-and-operated by the a subsidiary of , itself controlled by ...
in Japan reported that the Wylfa scheme may be scrapped, resulting in an increase in the value of Hitachi's shares. On 17 January 2019, Horizon announced that "it will suspend its UK nuclear development programme, following a decision taken by its parent company Hitachi". The UK government had been willing to take a one-third equity stake in the project, to consider providing all the required debt financing, and to provide a
Contract for Difference In finance, a contract for difference (CFD) is a financial agreement between two parties, commonly referred to as the "buyer" and the "seller." The contract stipulates that the buyer will pay the seller the difference between the current value o ...
for the electricity generated at up to £75/MWh for 35 years.
Greg Clark Gregory David Clark (born 28 August 1967) is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy from 2016 to 2019. He also was Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government from 2015 t ...
, minister for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, stated this was a "generous package of potential support that going beyond what any government had been willing to consider in the past". However this did not provide an adequate "economic rationality as a private enterprise" for Hitachi to proceed. Hitachi had spent nearly £2 billion on Horizon since 2012, and the Wylfa ABWR development had been expected to cost about £15 billion. Following the suspension, Horizon made most of its 380 staff redundant, retaining just a few site maintenance staff and those involved in governmental discussions about possible future funding of the development. In April 2020 a director of Horizon stated that the future of next two nuclear builds, Wylfa and EDF's Sizewell C, depended on the government accepting the Regulated Asset Base (RAB) financial assistance model rather than the existing
Contract for Difference In finance, a contract for difference (CFD) is a financial agreement between two parties, commonly referred to as the "buyer" and the "seller." The contract stipulates that the buyer will pay the seller the difference between the current value o ...
support mechanism, which would allow developers to need less upfront private finance as some finance would be backed by end consumer billing. In June 2020 ''
The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...
'' reported that the U.S. government had warned Hitachi not to sell Horizon to Chinese companies for security reasons. Horizon responded there were no such plans, and stated "We don't comment on speculation. Our focus remains on securing the conditions necessary to restart this crucial project, which would bring transformative economic benefits to the region and play a huge role in helping deliver the UK's climate change commitments." Shortly after, in August, the FT reported that the British government and Hitachi have recently been in talks over the possibility of resumption of Horizon's operation. In September 2020, Hitachi announced its withdrawal from the Wylfa and Oldbury projects, due to the lack of progress in the 20 months since suspending the project, and to the difficult investment environment following the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
. Horizon will close down its development activities, but will work with the UK government and other stakeholders to facilitate future options for the two sites. In March 2024,
Great British Nuclear Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements * Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size * Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent People * List of people known as "the Great" * Artel Great (bo ...
bought the Oldbury and Wylfa sites in a deal worth £160m.


See also

*
Economics of new nuclear power plants Nuclear power construction costs have varied significantly across the world and over time. Large and rapid increases in costs occurred during the 1970s, especially in the United States. Recent cost trends in countries such as Japan and Korea ha ...


References


External links


Horizon Nuclear PowerUK Advanced Boiling Water Reactor
Hitachi {{Navboxes, list1= {{Nuclear power in the United Kingdom {{Hitachi {{Energy in the United Kingdom, companies Energy companies established in 2009 Nuclear power companies of the United Kingdom Hitachi subsidiaries Companies based in Gloucester 2012 mergers and acquisitions 2009 establishments in England