Britain’s first new nuclear plant, scheduled to come online in early 2018, will likely be delayed, UK energy supplier Centrica said on Thursday.
“There will be a delay, we just don’t know by how (long),” Chief Executive Sam Laidlaw said at a conference in London.
Britain has identified eight sites in England and Wales for possible nuclear plants, with the first expected to be built by EDF at Hinkley Point on England’s southwest coast by 2018.
EDF is the biggest nuclear operator in the UK. Centrica and EDF have formed a joint venture to build four new nuclear power stations in the UK.
At a separate conference in Prague, Centrica’s nuclear director said that while the 2018 target was achievable, the whole industry was reviewing dates for new builds after the Japan nuclear accident.
“Post-Fukushima, all dates will be reviewed,” Greg Evans told Reuters on the sidelines of a nuclear power conference.
“It would be imprudent to put time pressure on the nuclear power programme until lessons are learned from the accident in Japan.”
Britain counts nuclear power as a key source of energy for a low-carbon economy and the government is in the process of passing new legislation which further rewards low carbon emitting forms of energy.
