UK nuke sector objective on CGN
Former British environment minister Tim Yeo said he expects Chinese investment in the United Kingdom’s nuclear sector not to be deterred by pressure from the United States, stressing that British nuclear regulators will take an “evidence-based approach” to objectively assess Chinese investment.
Yeo was speaking to China Daily on Thursday, as an article in the Financial Times once again put China General Nuclear’s UK nuclear investment in the media spotlight.
The FT article claimed that Christopher Ashley Ford, the US assistant secretary for international security and non-proliferation, told the UK government that the US had evidence to prove that CGN was “militarizing” civilian nuclear technology.
Yeo said he was “surprised” by Ford’s claims. He said the fact that London comprehensivel y assessed the suitability of CGN’s UK investments two years ago and had given it the green light was a sign that it had already ruled out the type of security concerns Ford referred to.
“If the US has new evidence, then the UK government will take actions in relation to it. But we have not yet seen what that evidence is,” said Yeo, who served as environment minister under former British prime minister John Major, and is now Chairman of New Nuclear Watch Europe, a lobbying group.
Ford has not made clear what his evidence is, nor did he say with whom in the UK government he communicated this information with.
CGN offered no comments in response to the news.
Three plants
The Chinese company is in partnership with France’s EDF to build three nuclear power stations in the UK. The first, Hinkley Point C, in Somerset, is on track to start generating electricity by 2025. Hinkley will later be followed by two other nuclear plants — Sizewell C and Bradwell B.
This package of three projects was agreed in a contract signed in 2016 between CGN, EDF and the UK government.
CGN is only a financial investor in Hinkley Point C and Sizewell C, as these nuclear plants will be built using French technology, known as the European Pressurized Reactor, or EPR.
CGN will play a more active role in introducing Chinese indigenous nuclear technology, the HPR1000, to the Bradwell B power plant site. Bradwell is currently being assessed by the UK’s Office for Nuclear Regulation, for deployment in the UK.
The process, which started in January 2017, is on track, but requires about another three years to complete.
Kirsty Gogan, executive director of the London-based NGO Energy for Humanity, said Ford’s warning seems to be politicizing CGN’s investment in the UK, which she believes to be commercially driven.
Hinkley Point C alone is expected to provide 7 percent of Britain’s power needs.
Last month CGN reaffirmed its commitment to the UK’s nuclear sector.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Zheng Dongshan, CEO of CGN’s UK subsidiary, said that CGN is willing to be patient and take time to build up trust from the UK government and public.