12 Nov (NucNet): South Korea’s state-controlled utility Korea Electric Power Corporation (Kepco) has said it intends to talk to the British government about plans to build a new nuclear power station at the Moorside nuclear site in Cumbria, northwest England.
South Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said in a statement: “The ministry plans to closely coordinate with the British government on the Moorside project while monitoring the NuGen liquidation process with Kepco.”
Kepco had been a preferred bidder but lost that status in July as delays to concluding a deal dragged on.
Last week Toshiba announced it had decided to wind up NuGen, the company overseeing plans to build three Westinghouse Generation III+ AP1000 units at the Moorside site.
Toshiba said in a statement it would take a JPY18.8bn (€143m) hit from closing NuGen, which had already been cut to a skeleton staff, after it failed to find a buyer for the project.
Toshiba said that it was winding up NuGen because of its inability to find a buyer and the ongoing costs it was incurring. The company has already spent more than €459m on the project.
Toshiba put NuGen up for sale as part of its wider restructuring in the wake of financial problems triggered by losses in its US nuclear business, Westinghouse, which was providing the three AP1000 units for Moorside.
Kepco had said it wanted to use its own Generation III+ APR-1400 nuclear reactor design for the project, which has not been submitted for approval by Britain’s nuclear regulator.
