British Prime Minister David Cameron (R) holds talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping at his official residence at Chequers on Oct. 22, 2015, in Aylesbury, England. (Photo : Getty Images)
China has agreed on Wednesday to finance a third of the construction of Britain’s first nuclear power plant in decades as part a project led by the French energy company EDF. The deal was earlier confirmed on the second day of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit to the United Kingdom.
The deal was signed in the presence of Xi and British Prime Minister David Cameron.
In a statement, EDF said that the 18 billion pound ($28 billion) deal, which is slated for completion by 2025, is expected to be finalized in the coming weeks.
The French utility giant will build two European pressurized reactors, a third-generation nuclear reactor design considered to be the safest and most advanced in the world, at the Hinkley Point C plant in Somerset, England.
The state-run China General Nuclear Corporation (CGN) will finance 6 billion pound of the sum, with EDF paying for the remainder, the statement said.
"We have all the conditions now in place, subject to final investment approval in the next few weeks, to go ahead with the project," Vincent de Rivaz, head of EDF's U.K. division, said in an interview with the press.
Both CGN and EDF have also reached an agreement to jointly develop nuclear power plants at Sizewell, which is located on the eastern English coast in Suffolk, and at Bradwell in Essex.
The Hinkley facility will start operations in 2025, two years later than originally planned when the deal was first announced to the public two years ago.
The British government has placed nuclear energy front and center of its low-carbon energy policy, a sharp contrast to EU powerhouse Germany's pledge to phase out nuclear power following Japan's 2011 Fukushima disaster.
More than 25,000 jobs will be created and six million homes will be powered through the Hinkley facility, the U.K.'s Department of Energy and Climate Change said in a statement.
The deal is a highlight of Xi's official visit to England, which began on Tuesday with lavish ceremony that culminated in a banquet at Buckingham Palace.
On Tuesday, he met the cast and crew behind the British hit TV series "Sherlock" and "Poldark" along with Hong Kong action star Jackie Chan at an event celebrating Britain's entertainment industry.
