Government Ministers Consider Shutting China Out of UK Nuclear Sector

The government is reportedly looking into ways to bar China from its stake in the new Sizewell C nuclear power plant in Suffolk, England.

Costing £20 billion, Chinese involvement in the plant’s construction was agreed upon in 2015, with EDF Energy and China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN) taking an 80% and 20% equity stake in the project, respectively. 

The power station is expected to meet 7% of the UK's demand when it comes into service.

CGN, a Chinese Communist Party owned corporation, has several other nuclear ventures in the United Kingdom. As part of a wider investigation into Chinese acquisition of UK assets in May, Lotuseaters.com reported that the corporation had also bought a 33.5 per cent stake in the Hinkley Point C power station in Somerset and a majority 65 per cent stake in a third plant in Bradwell, Essex, where Chinese nuclear technology will be implemented.

In August 2019, CGN was blacklisted in the United States after the US Department of Commerce placed the group on the so-called ‘entity list’ of countries “determined by the US Government to be acting contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States.” In its blacklisting, the Department of Commerce citing the corporations alleged “engag[ment] in or enabled efforts to acquire advanced US nuclear technology and material for diversion to military uses in China.”

According to sources close to The Times, government ministers will also look to block CGN from the UK’s nuclear infrastructure altogether following the developments at Sizewell C. A senior government source, however, said that ministers would have to “go cautiously.” 

“If we push too hard on Sizewell it could have wider implications. All the deals hang together. If you open up one of the deals, you open all of them. It’s never going to be as simple as ‘pull out of Sizewell’. I’d be amazed if CGN didn’t say: ‘You want us to put some more money into Hinkley Point? Well, screw you.’”

Currently, the Chinese state-owned corporation is thought to have invested around £4 billion in Hinkley Point C. It also has engineers on site. Meanwhile, Chinese designs for the proposed Bradwell B plant in Essex have yet to be approved. If passed, the site will see the implementation of the Hualong HPR1000 nuclear reactor. However, one person familiar with the project, speaking to the Financial Times, said CGN’s plans to build the power plant on the coast just 50km from London were unfeasible. 

“There isn’t a chance in hell that CGN builds Bradwell. Given the approach we’ve seen to Huawei, [Downing Street] aren’t going to be letting a Chinese company build a new nuclear power station.”

So far, the government has refused to confirm or deny that it was seeking to push China out, with a Whitehall spokesperson affirming:

“Nuclear power has an important role to play in the UK’s low-carbon energy future, as we work towards our world-leading target to eliminate our contribution to climate change by 2050. All nuclear projects in the UK are conducted under robust and independent regulation to meet the UK’s rigorous legal, regulatory and national security requirements, ensuring our interests are protected.”