The Japanese company had been in talks with the government since June about funding for the project, which was being built by its Horizon subsidiary. The government said it had failed to agree terms with Hitachi.
The decision was made from the viewpoint of Hitachi’s financial rationality as a private enterprise, Hitachi said in a statement. Hitachi said the decision would cost it an estimated 300bn yen (€2.3bn) in expenses, plus another 300bn yen as “extraordinary losses”.
Horizon said it had been in close discussions with the UK government on the financing and associated commercial arrangements for our project for some years.
Chief executive Duncan Hawthorne said: “I am very sorry to say that despite the best efforts of everyone involved we’ve not been able to reach an agreement to the satisfaction of all concerned.
“As a result we will be suspending the development of the Wylfa Newydd project until a solution can be found. In the meantime we will take steps to reduce our presence but keep the option to resume development in future.”
Tom Greatrex, chief executive of the London-based Nuclear Industry Association, said: “Today’s news is disappointing, not just for the Wylfa Newydd project but for Anglesey and the nuclear industry as a whole. Wylfa remains a strong site for vital new nuclear power for the UK.”
The Unite trade union, which represents energy workers, said today’s announcement was “the latest chapter in the sorry saga of recent UK energy policy”.
Unite national officer for energy Peter McIntosh said: “There are very real concerns over how we will keep the lights on for industry and consumers in the coming decades.
“Without Wylfa being built, there is no way the country can meet its climate change obligations which it committed to when it signed up to the Paris Agreement in 2015.
“We need to replace the current generation of nuclear plants and Wylfa is a key part of that programme.”
