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Hitachi receives government loan assurances for controversial nuclear plant
Hitachi has received assurances from the UK government that loans will be provided for the construction of two nuclear reactors in Wales according to Japanese media reports.
The Mainichi newspaper reported on Wednesday that Prime Minister Theresa May met with Hitachi Chairman Hiroaki Nakanishi last week in London to confirm the loans and thus effectively give the go-ahead on the project.
Further to the loans, the Japanese giant's chairman has also called upon the UK government to take a £2bn stake in the plant in Anglesey, north Wales.
New safety regulations have caused the cost of the project to spiral to $27.4bn, according to the newspaper.
The UK needs to update or replace ageing nuclear energy facilities and coal plants set to come offline over the next decade, but the rising costs of the Anglesey project and severe delays to the construction of the Hinkley Point nuke plant in Somerset have dealt blows to the government's energy policies.
The issues prompted critics such as the SNP to call for May to rule out spending public money on a "misguided nuclear obsession".
The Prime Minister has also faced criticism over the secretive nature of the meetings with Hitachi, with Greenpeace UK's head of energy Hannah Martin branding May's behind closed doors meetings to discuss the use of taxpayer to fund nuclear energy as 2a disturbing glimpse of Britain's future".
Martin said: "While neither the taxpayer nor our representatives in Parliament are party to the discussions, we'll be funding this deal twice over. Firstly financing the construction of these absurdly expensive obsolete reactors, and then again when our soaring electricity bills reveal exactly why no other western nation is making this costly mistake."