RWE and E.ON in joint bid for UK nuclear sites

Reuters
Published: March 26, 2009

FRANKFURT: German power utility E.ON and smaller domestic rival RWE have placed joint bids for three British nuclear sites, German daily Handelsblatt reported on Thursday, citing company sources.
Britain's Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) last week launched an auction of 999-year leases on land near three of its nuclear power stations in the UK, at Wylfa in north Wales, Oldbury in Gloucestershire and Bradwell in Essex.
RWE has bought options on farmland near the Wylfa site, while E.ON has sites near Oldbury.
The two German companies announced earlier this month that they had teamed up to build British nuclear power stations.
The NDA declined to confirm the Handelsblatt report, but said the auction had attracted a high level of interest.

"It's been pretty successful," an NDA spokesman said.
The NDA potentially might be able to make an announcement next week about the winning bidders, the spokesman said.
The NDA is nominating its three plots of land to the UK government, which is expected to make a preliminary announcement in the autumn about sites it believes are suitable for new nuclear development.
Ministers are expected to make their final decision known in the spring of 2010, paving the way for successful bidders to apply for planning permission and to start building the plants, which would be likely to generate their first power in 2018.
France's GDF Suez and Spain's Iberdrola, which have also formed a partnership to build nuclear power stations in Britain, will take part in the auction, Handelsblatt said, citing industry sources.
E.ON and RWE were not immediately available for comment.
(Reporting by Nicola Leske and Philip Waller in London; editing by Will Waterman)