China in talks to build UK nuclear power plants
This very interesting article reveals just how global the economy is and how big scale investments from afar often underpin something close to you. There is a real link between nuclear power and rural economies. This is on the basis that you don’t build nuclear plants in cities. In a number of rural places which have become acclimatised to nuclear good wages and long term job prospects underpin successful economies – in places like west Cumbria. Now there is the prospect of Chinese investment in more potentially rurally located nuclear plants and as this article reveals there is already a significant trend in Chinese investment in other key bits of national infrastructure based in rural places such as Grangemouth and Felixstowe.
“China is poised to make a dramatic intervention in Britain’s energy future by offering to invest billions of pounds in building a series of new nuclear power stations.
Officials from China’s nuclear industry have been in high-level talks with ministers and officials at the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) this week about a plan that could eventually involve up to five different reactors being built at a total cost of £35bn.
Greenpeace described the move as desperate, while others warned of security fears, but the government has been courting China as the UK atomic programme has been hit by rows over subsidies and worries that EDF – the French company with the most advanced plans to build new reactors in the UK – could be hampered by the change of government in Paris.
China has operated its own atomic plants since 1994. It is awash with cash from its hugely successful industrial expansion and sees the UK as a potential shop window for exporting its atomic technology and expertise worldwide.
Companies from China have already invested in or taken over other infrastructure assets in Britain, such as Thames Water, the port of Felixstowe and the Grangemouth oil refinery. They also own businesses ranging from Weetabix to the Gieves & Hawkes tailoring brand.”