Chinese firm helps build UK nuclear power stations

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Europe

Clean energy has been a main focus for cooperation between China and the UK. In fact, China's nuclear power technology is currently being processed for use in the oldest industrial country in the world.

‍On September 29, 2016, China Nuclear Power Corporation (CGN) officially joined the Hinkley Point C project to co-develop a nuclear power station in Somerset in southwest England.

The station is earmarked to provide 7 percent of the UK's electricity for 60 years. One-third of the construction costs will be paid by CGN and the remainder by French utility EDF.

Hinkley Point C will be run by French technology. During construction, the project is expected to inject 40 million British pounds a year, equivalent to 355 million Chinese yuan, into the local economy, creating tens of thousands of jobs.

“Hinkley Point C builds a huge long-term legacy in nuclear, an open way of investment in nuclear engineering,” said Greg Clark, the UK Secretary of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

Shi Weiqi (L), general manager of the International Nuclear Power Business Department at CGN, spoke to CGTN in CGN’s Beijing Office. /CGTN Photo

In addition to the Hinkley Point C, there are plans underway for another UK nuclear power station – the Bradwell B, also co-developed by China General Nuclear and EDF.

And this time, the Chinese company is taking the majority share. And the China-made Hualong Pressurized Reactor 1000 or the Hualong One is going through the approval process for use in the Bradwell project.

China can now manufacture 10 to 12 sets of equipment for nuclear power stations each year. And the country is the only one in the world where the manufacture of nuclear power technology has remained uninterrupted over the past three decades.