E.ON and RWE secure two UK nuclear sites

German energy providers E.ON and RWE are teaming up to build nuclear power plants in the UK. The firms have bought two of the sites, at Wylfa in Anglesey and Oldbury in Gloucestershire, in the auction held by the government's Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.

They said they planned to build 6,000MW of nuclear generation capacity - which would require constructing four to six new reactors on the two sites.

RWE's UK chief executive, Andy Duff, fired a warning shot to the government about the lack of security in the UK energy market. “We have been very, very concerned about the government's energy policy in recent years, and delivering the new reactors on time relies on an energy policy that is low on surprises and high on predictability and stability,” he said.

The German consortium will go up against French firm EDF, which last year bought British Energy, present owner of most UK nuclear generators, for £12.4bn. EDF said it would build 6,400MW of capacity in four reactors.

The consortium and EDF would together build more capacity than they would replace, said the government.