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RWE, E.ON to Begin Horizon Nuclear Venture This Month (Update1)
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By Catherine Airlie

Nov. 5 (Bloomberg) -- U.K. units of RWE AG and E.ON AG will start their venture this month with plans to spend as much as 15 billion pounds ($25 billion) on nuclear-power plants.

Horizon Nuclear Power, headquartered in Gloucester, England, plans to build 6,000 megawatts of nuclear capacity in Britain by 2025, with each new plant having a 60-year lifespan, the companies said today in a joint statement.

RWE npower and E.ON UK, British units of Germany’s biggest utilities, announced their nuclear venture in January. Paris- based Areva SA and Monroeville, Pennsylvania-based Westinghouse Electric Corp. are competing to provide nuclear technology, and Horizon will enter “exclusive negotiations” with one of them early next year, Chief Operating Officer of Horizon Nuclear Power Alan Raymant said in the statement.

The venture “will play a key role in delivering new nuclear stations, helping achieve the U.K.’s stretching environmental targets and keeping energy prices affordable over the long term,” Raymant said.

U.K. Energy Minister Phil Hunt said June 11 that building new reactors is going to be “critically important” in reducing emissions and dependence on natural gas.

Horizon offices may be opened close to Wylfa, north Wales and Oldbury, 200 kilometers northwest of London. Existing nuclear plants at both sites are run by Magnox North, and the venture has bought the adjacent land. E.ON and RWE own or operate 23 nuclear plants in Germany and Sweden.

To contact the reporter on this story: Catherine Airlie at [e-mail]
Last Updated: November 5, 2009 11:53 EST