Plans for a £15-£20bn nuclear power plant in Wylfa have been scrapped. Work on the Wylfa Newydd project on Anglesey was suspended in January last year because of rising costs after Hitachi failed to reach a funding agreement with the UK government. Hitachi has now confirmed it is withdrawing from the project after the Isle of Anglesey council said it had received the news on Tuesday.
It would have created up to 9,000 jobs during construction. Hitachi said it made the decision given 20 months had passed since the project had paused “and the investment environment has become increasingly severe due to the impact of Covid-19”.
The UK government declined to comment on Tuesday, but the Welsh Affairs Committee has said the Wylfa nuclear power project withdrawal is “a blow for Wales and the UK’s ambition to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050”.
Hitachi said it would coordinate with the UK government and other bodies over handling the planned construction sites and other matters. Developer Horizon’s chief executive Duncan Hawthorne said that “I understand this announcement will be disappointing for our many supporters who had hoped to see our project through to completion and I would personally like to thank you for your support throughout our time on this project.
“Nuclear power has a critical role to play in helping tackle our energy needs, meeting our climate change targets and leveling up the economy through green growth and job creation.” Hitachi is also scrapping its project at Oldbury on Severn in Gloucestershire.
Mr. Hawthorne said, “Wylfa Newydd on Anglesey and Oldbury on Severn is highly desirable sites for new nuclear build”. “We will do our utmost to facilitate the prospects for development which will bring the major local, national, and environmental benefits that nuclear can uniquely deliver as we push to transition to a net-zero carbon economy by 2050.
“Anglesey council was told on Tuesday that Hitachi was withdrawing, and council leader Llinos Medi said that “This is very disappointing, particularly at such a difficult time economically.”
Campaigners against the project – a replacement for the original Wylfa plant shut in 2015 after 44 years of service, welcomed Hitachi’s move claiming a “nuclear power station would have endangered lives on Anglesey and beyond”.
The People against Wylfa B action group said that “It would have ruined the environment over an area which is 10 times greater than the current site.
” It called on Hitachi to “ensure that no nuclear scheme will happen on the site in the future” and return the site to its “former state, for community benefit”.
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