Westinghouse and RWE in talks to build new nuclear reactors

Nuclear reactor designer Westinghouse is in advanced discussions with German utility company RWE to build up to three nuclear reactors in North Wales, contractjournal.com has learnt.

An industry source said: "Westinghouse is in discussions with a number of utilities but is in more advanced discussions with RWE."

RWE has set its sights on building up to three Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear reactors at Wylfa in Anglesey North Wales, according to the source. Construction work could start as early as 2013. Each Westinghouse reactor scheme, worth around £3.4bn, could create up to 9,000 construction jobs.

The source added: "RWE has bought land adjacent to the existing Wylfa nuclear power station and has grid connection rights of 3.6 gigawatts which will be delivered in three tranches of 1200 megawatts over three years. The size of each grid connection is suited to the Westinghouse reactor which is smaller than the rival Areva EPR model."

Both the Westinghouse AP1000 and the Areva EPR reactor designs are awaiting Government approval for use in the UK's 40bn new nuclear programme which could see up to ten nuclear reactors built in the UK.

Wylfa is one of three sites to be auctioned by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority next month. The other two are Oldbury in Gloucestershire and Bradwell in Essex.

RWE is seen as the front runner for Wylfa because of its grid connection rights. It will bid in joint venture with German energy firm E.ON, which has pinned its colours to Oldbury, buying up land next to the site. Other contenders for the sites include French utility GDF-Suez which hooked up with  Spanish utility Iberdrola and Scottish Southern Energy last month to vye for UK nuclear sites. 

Westinghouse declined to comment on its discussions with utilities.

An RWE spokeswoman said: "We have secured land options and grid connection rights at Wylfa but remain open in terms of our technology choices."