Horizon reveals team to build Wylfa Newydd nuclear plant

Horizon Nuclear Power has revealed the team which will build Wylfa Newydd, its new nuclear plant on Anglesey in Wales.

Menter Newydd – meaning New Venture in Welsh – has been given responsibility for the plant’s delivery. The recently formed partnership is made up of Hitachi Nuclear Energy Europe, Bechtel Management Company and JGC Corporation.

Horizon is itself owned by the Hitachi group, having been bought by the Japanese conglomerate in 2012 for £700 million. The 2.7GW project will make use of two Advanced Boiling Water Reactors (ABWR) supplied by one of Hitachi’s subsidiaries.

The newly appointed chief executive of Horizon, Duncan Hawthorne, said: “This is an important step in any large, complex infrastructure project and it adds to Wylfa Newydd’s growing momentum.

“The depth and breadth of expertise Hitachi Nuclear Energy Europe, Bechtel and JGC bring to the Menter Newydd venture will help us ensure the timely delivery of our project, which will be vital for meeting the UK’s energy gap and boosting the local economy in North Wales for decades to come.”

Hitachi’s Malcolm Twist, project director for Menter Newydd, said: “This is a very strong team. All the partners are proven at the highest level, and I’m delighted we’ve established the balance of expertise to safely deliver for Horizon, on-cost and on-schedule. We expect to begin firming up relationships with our main sub-contractors – many of them British – very soon.”

Horizon is aiming to start generating power at plant within the first half of the 2020s. It said the UK ABWR design which will be used in the plant remains on track to pass its Generic Design Assessment by the end of 2017.

Earlier this week NuGen unveiled the shortlists of two design competions for its new nuclear plant at Moorside in Cumbria.