Japan's Hitachi suspended its major nuclear power station project in the U.K. over financing, the company announced Thursday.
Hitachi had been in talks with the U.K. government about funding for the Wylfa Newydd nuclear power station at Wylfa on the Isle of Anglesey in North Wales, which its subsidiary Horizon Nuclear Power was building.
The decision was made from the viewpoint of Hitachi's economic rationality as a private enterprise, according to the company's statement.
'We have been in close discussions with the U.K. Government, in cooperation with the Government of Japan, on the financing and associated commercial arrangements for our project for some years now,' said Duncan Hawthorne, CEO of Horizon Nuclear Power, in a press release.
However, the company said despite discussions with the government, it was unable to reach an agreement and halted work on the power station. It will also suspend work on another site at Oldbury-on-Severn in South Gloucestershire.
'As a result we will be suspending the development of the Wylfa Newydd project, as well as work related to Oldbury, until a solution can be found. In the meantime we will take steps to reduce our presence but keep the option to resume development in future,' Hawthorne concluded.
The company planned to build a new nuclear power generation plant at Wylfa with at least 5,800 megawatts. The power station sites were expected to provide up to nine thousand construction jobs and employ up to 850 on each site once operational.
By Firdevs Yuksel
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr