South Korean firm in talks over possible nuclear plant in Wales

South Korea’s state-owned nuclear developer has discussed with the UK government a proposal to build a multibillion-pound power plant in Wales, it has emerged.

Kepco, the largest utility provider in South Korea, has held early-stage discussions with Westminster officials about developing the Wylfa Newydd site on the island of Anglesey (Ynys Môn), the Financial Times reported.

The energy minister Andrew Bowie is expected to meet representatives from the company this week to discuss the matter as part of the annual UK civil energy dialogue talks between the UK and South Korea.

The government is aiming to revive the project as part of its plans to generate 24GW of energy from nuclear by 2050, a significant increase from the current 6GW.

It was initially hoped that the Japanese developer Hitachi would build two reactors on the site but the firm pulled out in early 2019 because of rising costs, throwing the site’s future into doubt.

In March this year, the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, confirmed that the UK government had reached a £160m agreement with Hitachi to buy Wylfa and the site of the Oldbury plant in Gloucestershire, with the hope of finding new investors.

An industry source told the FT: “Kepco is certainly interested in the project and the company is in talks with the UK government about it.” A UK official briefed on the matter said talks were “at an early stage”.

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said: “Wylfa has excellent potential and we welcome the interest of all parties who are looking to invest in UK nuclear projects.”

The Kepco chief executive and chair, Kim Dong-cheol, visited the Wylfa site in November as part of a South Korean delegation looking at UK nuclear opportunities.

Virginia Crosbie, the MP for Ynys Môn, said the delegation had told her it “was a better nuclear site than any they had” because of its existing grid connection and abundance of cooling water around the site.

Despite the UK’s nuclear ambitions, only one plant is under construction – Hinkley Point C in Somerset. Its sister project, Sizewell C in Suffolk, received a nuclear site licence last week.