First Major Permission in Place as Horizon Project Moves Forward

January 28, 2015

Horizon Nuclear Power has today welcomed the successful completion of the Regulatory Justification process for its chosen reactor technology, the Hitachi-GE UK ABWR. The approval marks the first of the major permissions to be put in place as Horizon progresses its plans to build new nuclear power stations at two sites in the UK.

The completion of the Justification process comes after two rounds of public consultation, a ruling from the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, and unanimous approval in both Houses of Parliament. The process concluded that the security of supply, carbon reduction and economic benefits offered by the reactor technology are significant and important and clearly outweigh the potential detriments.

Alan Raymant, Chief Operating Officer at Horizon said: “This is a major milestone in our journey to bring forward new secure, low carbon and affordable electricity for the UK and clearly highlights the strengths of our chosen technology.

“Coming alongside the completion of our first round of public consultation at Wylfa Newydd, the positive progress being made on the Generic Design Assessment of the UK ABWR, and our continued rapid growth both at headquarters and on Anglesey, it demonstrates real momentum behind our project and gives us great confidence as we move forward.”

Regulatory Justification is a high level generic process that is a legal requirement for any new nuclear technology and is designed to ensure that the benefits to society of the technology outweigh any potential radiological health detriments. The application was made by the Nuclear Industry Association in December 2013 with the support of Horizon and Hitachi-GE.

Notes to Editors

  • Horizon Nuclear Power was formed in 2009 to develop new nuclear power stations in the UK. It was acquired by Hitachi Ltd of Japan in November 2012. The company is developing plans to build at least 5,400MW of new nuclear power generation plant at Wylfa on the Isle of Anglesey and Oldbury-on-Severn in South Gloucestershire.
  • For more information on the UK ABWR reactor, please visit the Hitachi-GE, Ltd. website at www.hitachi-hgne-uk-abwr.co.uk
  • The Secretary of State’s final decision under the Regulatory Justification process can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/regulatory-justification-of-the-uk-abwr-nuclear-reactor
  • The Regulatory Justification decision is given effect by a Statutory Instrument The Justification Decision (Generation of Electricity by the UK ABWR Nuclear Reactor) Regulations 2015
  • As well as approval under the Regulatory Justification process, which is a generic, non-site specific approval, Horizon will also require a range of other regulatory permissions and approvals, including those relating to safety and environmental issues, as well as planning consents before it can proceed with its projects at Wylfa Newydd and Oldbury

For further information please contact:

Ben Russell on 07580 948 106
ben.russell@horizonnuclearpower.com

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