Wylfa B or not to B? US consortium ‘in talks’ with UK Government about reviving the project

A US consortium is in talks with the British government about reviving the project to build a nuclear power plant at Wylfa on Anglesey.

The nuclear plant was tipped to bring hundreds of skilled long term jobs to Anglesey but was placed on hold by Hitachi company in January 2019 and the plug was finally pulled in September this year.

But according to the Financial Times newspaper, a consortium led by US engineering group Bechtel, are interested in reviving the plans.

Discussions about Wylfa started after the US consortium contacted the government in September, expressing its wish to take over the project, according to a Financial Times source.

The person told the newspaper that the new consortium’s plans could deliver power to the electricity grid on both a similar timescale to the original Hitachi project.

‘Interest’

Tom Greatrex, chair of the UK Nuclear Industries Association, a trade body, told the Financial Times that it was “entirely unsurprising that a site as good as Wylfa — with Welsh government support, closely linked to the north west supply chain and with strong local community backing — is of interest to potential developers”.

The Welsh Secretary Simon Hart said in September that he would be holding conversations with “other interested investors” over the Wylfa Newydd nuclear power plant site after Hitachi officially confirmed their withdrawal.

Construction of the plant could cost up to £20 billion and would have created 9,000 jobs.