 | |
| Industry | electricity generation |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2009 |
| Headquarters | Gloucester, UK |
Key people | Duncan Hawthorne - CEO |
| Products | electrical power |
| Owner | Hitachi |
| Website | horizonnuclearpower.com |
Horizon Nuclear Power is a British energy company that was expected to build new nuclear power stations in the United Kingdom. It was established in 2009, with its head office in Gloucester, and is now owned by Hitachi.
On 17 January 2019, Horizon suspended its UK nuclear development programme.
The company was established in 2009 as an E.ON UK and RWE Npower joint venture. The company announced its intention to install about 6,000 MWe of new nuclear capacity adjacent to the existing Wylfa and Oldbury nuclear power stations. [1] [2] Horizon initially evaluated building either Areva 1,650 MWe EPR reactors or Westinghouse 1,100 MWe AP1000 reactors between 2020 and 2024. [3] [4]
In March 2012, E.ON and RWE Npower placed Horizon up for sale as a going concern. [5] [6] [7] One bidder was a joint venture of China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group and the China National Nuclear Corporation. [8]
However, on 29 October 2012, it was announced that Hitachi would buy Horizon for £696 million, [9] and the sale was completed on 26 November 2012. [10]
Hitachi intended to build two to three 1,350 MWe Advanced Boiling Water Reactors (ABWR) on each site, but first required a Generic Design Assessment (GDA) for the ABWR by the Office for Nuclear Regulation. [11] [12] [13] The assessment began in April 2013, with an agreement that the costs of the assessment would be covered by Hitachi-GE. [14] In August 2014, the proposed reactor type reached the third stage, out of four, in the GDA process. [15]
In 2013, Horizon planned initial site work at Wylfa to begin in 2015, with building work starting in 2018 and generation starting in the mid-2020s. [16] However later Horizon delayed the start of site work until after the GDA is completed. [17]
In January 2016, Hitachi announced a new UK company, Hitachi Nuclear Energy Europe, to lead a proposed joint venture with Bechtel and JGC Corporation, to cover the engineering, procurement and construction of Horizon's nuclear plants in the UK. Horizon Nuclear Power would continue to work on obtaining regulatory consents and making commercial arrangements. [18] However, later in the month Hiroaki Nakanishi, chairman and chief executive of Hitachi, expressed serious concerns to the Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond over financing the scheme, following EDF's difficulty in financing Hinkley Point C. Hitachi negotiated with the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) on electricity price guarantees, called Contracts for Difference (CfD). [19] The first project at Wylfa would be financed externally, with Hitachi only taking a minority stake. [20]
In May 2016, Duncan Hawthorne, previously CEO of Bruce Power in Canada, was appointed CEO of Horizon. [21] In February 2017 Horizon contracted U.S. Exelon to provide expert staff to assist in developing Horizon's nuclear operating model. [22]
The ABWR GDA process was completed successfully in December 2017. [23]
As of 2017, Horizon planned to build two ABWRs at each site, subject to finance and contract agreement. [24] Horizon believed that the consensus of government and industry was that the Contract for Difference financing model used for Hinkley Point C nuclear power station, involving fully private sector financing, would not be used for subsequent nuclear plants, and discussions were held with government about alternative financing models. [25] Hawthorne, Horizon CEO, stated "We are an insurance policy for a long-term stable supply and there is a price for that certainty". [26]
In December 2018, Hitachi's chairman stated they were struggling to find investors for the Wylfa plant. Later TV Asahi in Japan reported that the Wylfa scheme may be scrapped, resulting in an increase in the value of Hitachi’s shares. [27] [28]
On 17 January 2019, Horizon announced that "it will suspend its UK nuclear development programme, following a decision taken by its parent company Hitachi". [29] [30] The UK government had been willing to take a one-third equity stake in the project, to consider providing all the required debt financing, and to provide a Contract for Difference for the electricity generated at up to £75/MWh for 35 years. Greg Clark, minister for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, stated this was a "generous package of potential support that going beyond what any government had been willing to consider in the past". However this did not provide an adequate "economic rationality as a private enterprise" for Hitachi to proceed. [31] [32]
Hitachi had spent nearly £2 billion on Horizon since 2012, and the Wylfa ABWR development had been expected to cost about £15 billion. [33]
Following the suspension, Horizon made most of its 380 staff redundant, retaining just a few site maintenance staff and those involved in governmental discussions about possible future funding of the development. [33]
In April 2020 a director of Horizon stated that the future of next two nuclear builds, Wylfa and EDF's Sizewell C, depended on the government accepting the Regulated Asset Base (RAB) financial assistance model rather than the existing Contract for Difference support mechanism, which would allow developers to need less upfront private finance as some finance would be backed by end consumer billing. [34]
In June 2020 The Sunday Times reported that the U.S. government had warned Hitachi not to sell Horizon to Chinese companies for security reasons. Horizon responded there were no such plans, and stated "We don't comment on speculation. Our focus remains on securing the conditions necessary to restart this crucial project, which would bring transformative economic benefits to the region and play a huge role in helping deliver the UK's climate change commitments." [35] [36] Shortly after, in August, the FT reported that the British government and Hitachi have recently been in talks over the possibility of resumption of Horizon's operation. [37]
In September 2020, Hitachi announced its withdrawal from the Wylfa and Oldbury projects, due to the lack of progress in the 20 months since suspending the project, and to the difficult investment environment following the COVID-19 pandemic. Horizon will close down its development activities, but will work with the UK government and other stakeholders to facilitate future options for the two sites. [38]
Magnox is a type of nuclear power / production reactor that was designed to run on natural uranium with graphite as the moderator and carbon dioxide gas as the heat exchange coolant. It belongs to the wider class of gas-cooled reactors. The name comes from the magnesium-aluminium alloy, used to clad the fuel rods inside the reactor. Like most other "Generation I nuclear reactors", the Magnox was designed with the dual purpose of producing electrical power and plutonium-239 for the nascent nuclear weapons programme in Britain. The name refers specifically to the United Kingdom design but is sometimes used generically to refer to any similar reactor.
Wylfa nuclear power station is a Magnox nuclear power station undergoing decommissioning. Wylfa is situated west of Cemaes Bay on the island of Anglesey, off the northwestern coast of Wales. Construction of the two 490 MW nuclear reactors, known as Reactor 1 and Reactor 2, began in 1963. They became operational in 1971. Wylfa was located on the coast because seawater was used as a coolant.
The EPR is a third generation pressurised water reactor design. It has been designed and developed mainly by Framatome and Électricité de France (EDF) in France, and by Siemens in Germany. In Europe this reactor design was called European Pressurised Reactor, and the internationalised name was Evolutionary Power Reactor, but is now simply named EPR.
Shepperdine is a small village in the parish of Oldbury-on-Severn in South Gloucestershire, England, with a border with Stroud District. The land lies wholly on the flood plain of the River Severn.
The advanced boiling water reactor (ABWR) is a Generation III boiling water reactor. The ABWR is currently offered by GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) and Toshiba. The ABWR generates electrical power by using steam to power a turbine connected to a generator; the steam is boiled from water using heat generated by fission reactions within nuclear fuel. Kashiwazaki-Kariwa unit 6 is considered the first Generation III reactor in the world.
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Hinkley Point B nuclear power station is a nuclear power station near Bridgwater, Somerset, on the Bristol Channel coast of south west England. It was the first commercial Advanced Gas Cooled reactor to generate power to the National Grid in 1976 and shares its design with sister station Hunterston B nuclear power station. It ceased operations permanently on 1 August 2022.
Oldbury nuclear power station is a Magnox nuclear power station undergoing decommissioning. It is located on the south bank of the River Severn close to the village of Oldbury-on-Severn in South Gloucestershire, England. The ongoing decommissioning process is managed by Magnox Ltd, a subsidiary of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA).
The anti-nuclear movement in the United Kingdom consists of groups who oppose nuclear technologies such as nuclear power and nuclear weapons. Many different groups and individuals have been involved in anti-nuclear demonstrations and protests over the years.
Hinkley Point C nuclear power station (HPC) is a two-unit, 3,200 MWe EPR nuclear power station under construction in Somerset, England.
GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) is a provider of advanced reactors and nuclear services. It is headquartered in Wilmington, North Carolina, United States. Established in June 2007, GEH is a nuclear alliance created by General Electric and Hitachi. In Japan, the alliance is Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy. In November 2015, Jay Wileman was appointed CEO.
The Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) is the regulator for the nuclear industry in the United Kingdom. It is an independent statutory corporation whose costs are met by charging fees to the nuclear industry. The ONR reports to the Department for Work and Pensions, although it also worked closely with the now-defunct Department of Energy and Climate Change.
Magnox Ltd is a British nuclear decommissioning Site Licence Company (SLC) under the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), a UK government body set up specifically to deal with the nuclear legacy under the Energy Act 2004. In September 2019, it became a direct subsidiary of the NDA.
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The Hualong One is a Chinese Generation III pressurized water nuclear reactor jointly developed by the China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN) and the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC). The CGN version, and its derived export version, is called HPR1000. It is commonly mistakenly referred to in media as the "ACPR1000" and "ACP1000", which are in fact earlier reactors design programs by CGN and CNNC.
People Against Wylfa-B is a campaign group established in 1988 to oppose the construction of a second nuclear power plant at Wylfa on the north coast of the island of Anglesey, Wales.
The Rolls-Royce SMR, also known as the UK SMR, is a small modular reactor (SMR) being developed by the Rolls-Royce (RR) company in the United Kingdom.
Sizewell C nuclear power station is a project to construct a 3,200 MWe nuclear power station with two EPR reactors in Suffolk, England. The project was proposed by a consortium of EDF Energy and China General Nuclear Power Group, which own 80% and 20% of the project respectively. In 2022, UK Government announced a buy-out to allow for the exit of CGN from the project and forming a 50% stake with EDF, though EDF expect this to fall below 20% following anticipated external investment. The power station is expected to meet up to 7% of the UK's demand if it comes into service.
Bradwell B is a proposed nuclear power station at Bradwell-on-Sea in Essex, put forward by China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN). If constructed, the site will provide 2,200 MWe of nuclear power from two UK HPR1000 reactors developed by CGN and the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC). It will be located close to the decommissioned Bradwell nuclear power station.
Wylfa Newydd nuclear power station, also known as Wylfa B, was a proposed project to construct a 2,700 MWe nuclear power station with two ABWR reactors in Anglesey, Wales. The project was owned by Horizon Nuclear Power which is a subsidiary of Hitachi, who are also the main shareholder in Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy, the supplier of the reactors for the project.
