The firm’s vice president of business development Colin Elcoate told Utility Week that, like all developed nuclear nations, “the Chinese will soon face decommissioning challenges”.
“The UK is probably the leading nation in terms of decommissioning technology,” he said. “And the Chinese are looking to gain experience and build relationships and partnerships in Europe, and focus on the UK, to learn about that market and take that knowledge home with them.”
In terms of the development of nuclear technology, China is currently where the UK was 30 or 40 years ago, he added. And there is an opportunity for the UK to “benefit from ambition”.
“There’s an area there where a lot of UK companies can benefit from their ambition and build relationships around UK projects and UK opportunity. They will then take that relationship, that learning, that knowledge and those products back to China, when they face those decommissioning challenges which are not far away. So there is an interest in a reciprocal-type learning arrangement.”
Last year, the Chinese and UK governments signed a joint civil nuclear statement confirming that Chinese companies can own and operate a Chinese designed nuclear power station in the UK, provided they meet the requirements of the UK’s independent regulator. This paves the way for Chinese companies to invest in the £16 billion Hinkley Point C project.