21 Jan (NucNet): China’s largest state-backed nuclear company is in talks with Rolls-Royce about supplying equipment for the Bradwell B power station it hopes to build in Essex, reports the Financial Times.
According to the newspaper, Rolls-Royce would provide China General Nuclear Power Corporation (CGN) with the control systems for the HPR1000 plant, also known as the Hualong One, it plans to install at Bradwell on the Essex coast.
The control systems drive the operation of the reactor and allow it to be safely shut down should problems occur.
Using the British group’s equipment would be a significant concession by CGN, says the Financial Times, as the “Chinese group has developed its own control systems which it hopes to export along with its reactor technology”.
CGN told NucNet last week it is hoping to bring forward plans to build Bradwell B, helping to fill the gap left by the failure of two Japanese projects, the company said.
Robert Davies, chief operating officer of CGN UK, said the company is planning to advance the commercial operation of Bradwell B to the early 2030s, a couple of years earlier than previously planned.
CGN UK’s state-run parent company CGN is a majority shareholder in Bradwell Power Generation Company, a joint venture with EDF, which is planning to build the single Hualong One plant.
Japan’s Hitachi said last week it had halted plans for the Wylfa Newydd nuclear station in Wales, while last year Toshiba shelved a project to build new nuclear at Moorside in Cumbria.
