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EDF in Talks With Utilities on New U.K. Atom Plant MOVERS MARKETPLACE By Bloomberg

Posted on: Tuesday, 21 February 2006, 12:00 CST

Electricite de France, Europe's largest utility, said on Monday that it was in talks with the German utilities E.ON and RWE and with the U.S company Constellation Energy Group about building a nuclear plant in Britain.

EDF, based in Paris, is also holding talks with British Energy Group, the largest British power generator and the owner of eight nuclear plants, Bruno Lescoeur, EDF's senior vice president for international businesses, said at a conference in London.

"In the U.K., EDF has more customers than generation," Lescoeur said

. "British Energy is a candidate to be a partner for nuclear build as well as some other utilities." No specific plans are under discussion, he added. EDF and other utilities are waiting for the British government to decide whether to build a new generation of nuclear power plants. A six-month energy review is scheduled to be completed by the end of June. But Prime Minister Tony Blair has signaled support for nuclear power after electricity prices doubled last year amid record prices for coal, oil and natural gas. The Department of Trade and Industry said Friday that the country would miss targets for reducing carbon dioxide emissions as nuclear power production drops by half in the next 10 years. Interest in nuclear energy, which has relatively constant costs, has increased as an emissions-free source of power. Prices for natural-gas-fired plants have soared as Britain became a net importer of natural gas last year. The country needs to replace the aging coal and nuclear plants that will go out of service at the end of the decade. The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority this month shut one of the country's first plants after 50 years of electricity production.

Source: International Herald Tribune

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