Toshiba 'pulls plug' on £10bn nuclear plant in Cumbria: Accounting scandal has left Japanese firm in disarray

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The future of one of Britain's biggest nuclear power stations has been thrown into doubt after Toshiba looked set to pull the plug on the £10billion project.

The Japanese giant, which has a 60 per cent stake in the planned NuGen nuclear project in Moorside, Cumbria, plans to withdraw from its lead role in the venture, according to sources.

The company is embroiled in an accounting scandal that has left it wrestling with a multi-billion dollar write-down of its US-based nuclear subsidiary, Westinghouse Electric. 

Shame: Toshiba president Masashi Muromachi bows his head as he announces new management  following the billion dollar accounting scandal

It is claimed the firm overpaid by several billion dollars for another nuclear construction and services business.

The scale of the write-down, the details of which will be revealed on February 14, could be around £4.8billion, according to sources.

Toshiba and its partner in the Cumbria project are looking for new investment with fears the Japanese firm is ready to pull out altogether. 

If it does, it throws in to doubt the future of a key plank in Britain's plans to replace ageing nuclear reactors.

The NuGen project, which aims to supply power to about 6m homes from 2025, costs more than £10billion to build.

Westinghouse UK, Toshiba's British subsidiary, is providing the reactors for the planned project, the rest of which is owned by French company Engie.

Once built, it would be one of Europe's largest nuclear power plants.

The Government is being urged to guarantee funding for the power station. Justin Bowden, the GMB union's national secretary for energy, said: 'The Government should step in now to fill any gaps in funding and ensure the project continues to move forward as quickly as possible. 

It is bonkers that we should rely on foreign investors to ensure facilities which would guarantee our energy needs for the future are built.'

Engie, which is working on the project alongside Toshiba, said it is currently seeking investment and is continuing to evaluate the site and design of the Moorside plant. 

An Engie spokesman said: 'The NuGen partners are working with the British government and regulator to obtain the necessary permits and determine contract conditions.

'In order to secure the project's investment needs, NuGen and its current shareholders, Toshiba and Engie, are actively reviewing debt and equity financing alternatives. 

That means, in particular, seeking new investors to join Toshiba and Engie as equity participants in NuGen for the project's development.'

Toshiba became one of the nuclear sector's biggest players with the purchase of Westinghouse in 2006, the height of a short-lived boom.

But the industry was left battered by the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, which was caused by the tsunami that followed the Tohoku earthquake off the coast of Japan.

A Toshiba spokesman said it was reviewing all its nuclear power businesses outside Japan but said 'Nothing has been decided at this time, including the impact on our Moorside nuclear project.'

NuGen declined to comment.

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