Nuclear plans ‘must be spelled out by Ministers’

THE “INFORMATION blackout” over the Government’s nuclear plans is “unjustifiable”, green campaigners said as the Prime Minister met the head of Hitachi amid reports that the Japanese company is seeking state support for a new power station in Wales.

Reports suggest that Hitachi chairman Hiroaki Nakanishi was using the Downing Street meeting yesterday to press for UK Government investment in the proposed new power station at Wylfa in Anglesey.

The group is understood to have spent £2bn on its Horizon project, which includes the development of the Wylfa site, but is reported to have made clear that the £10bn project is unaffordable without state support.

The 2.9-gigawatt power station is due to start generating in the mid-2020s as part of a drive to replace the UK’s ageing coal and nuclear power stations.

Theresa May’s official spokesman declined to confirm that she was meeting Mr Nakanishi, saying only that she was taking part in “private meetings” at Downing Street yesterday afternoon.

Greenpeace UK’s head of energy Hannah Martin said: “The information blackout about Government nuclear policy is unjustifiable.

“Theresa May is due to meet an industry boss reportedly asking for a multibillion-pound taxpayer-funded bailout for a tottering nuclear project no one wants to touch.

“The public have a right to know what the May government is planning to do with their money and why.

“Major western economies are reducing their exposure to nuclear, so why is Britain doing the exact opposite?

“It would make no sense to waste yet more billions on expensive and outdated nuclear when technologies like offshore wind can do the same job faster and cheaper.”