A proposed new nuclear power station in Wales has been shelved, delivering another hammer blow to the Government’s atomic energy ambitions following the collapse of Moorside.

Japanese company Hitachi announced on Thursday that it would be putting its plans for a power station at Wylfa Newydd, Anglesey, on hold after talks broke down between the company and the Japanese and UK governments over financial support for the £14 billion project.

Reports first emerged last week that the development, set to be delivered by Hitachi’s UK subsidiary Horizon Nuclear Power, was under threat. 

Although both sides have stressed that the project is not dead, the drastic move raises the prospect of a second failed new nuclear power station project in quick succession following the demise of NuGen’s plans for the Moorside site in Cumbria.

And in a further blow to the UK’s long-term nuclear energy plans, Horizon said it was also suspending work on its proposed new power station at Oldbury in Gloucestershire.

Tom Greatrex from the Nuclear Industry Association said the move was “disappointing” for the nuclear industry.

“The urgent need for further new nuclear capacity in the UK should not be underestimated, with all but one of the UK’s nuclear power plant due to come offline by 2030,” he said.

“If we want a balanced generation mix, Government must work with industry to deliver that vital capacity on this site. At stake are our ability to provide bulk, low carbon power, energy security, and the potential loss of the chance of thousands of highly skilled, well paid jobs in Wales and North West England.”

Mirroring the figures for the Moorside project, the construction workforce at Wylfa Newydd was due to peak at around 8,000 before making way for close to 1,000 operational jobs. Horizon had hoped to be generating enough electricity to supply 11 million homes by the mid-2020s.

Now it is likely to lay off the majority of its 300-strong workforce while the project is mothballed.

The unravelling of the Wylfa Newydd project has been closely watched in Cumbria, which is still reeling after the collapse of NuGen’s plans for a £15bn power station on land adjacent to Sellafield.

The project’s Japanese backers, Toshiba, decided to wind up its developer NuGen after failing to find a buyer to take it on.

Toshiba’s decision led to angry protest from business leaders and politicians in the county, who had demanded the Government take a direct stake in Moorside to keep the project alive.

The anger was further fuelled after it was revealed that the Government was considering taking a £5bn stake in the Wylfa Newydd, with questions raised over why the Welsh project was in the frame for publicly-backed investment, and Moorside not.

Business secretary Greg Clarke said it the Government had been “very clear” in its offers to support the project.

In addition to taking a one third equity stake alongside Hitachi, the Japanese Government “and other strategic partners”, he said it had also been willing to consider providing all of the required debt financing to complete the construction of the power station.

He also said that it was willing to provide a Contract for Difference as long as the strike price was no more than £75 per megawatt hour.

According to reports, the talks between the parties broke down over the strike price being significantly lower than that agreed between the UK Government and EDF Energy for electricity produced by the under-construction Hinkley Point C power station in Somerset, which was set at £92.50 per megawatt hour.

In-Cumbria understands that the Japanese Government’s appetite to put funding into the project has also waned.

Hitachi also cited the costs involved in progressing Wylfa Newydd, which stand at around £2bn, and that it was halting the project "from the viewpoint of its economic rationality as a private enterprise".

The Unite union described the suspension of Wylfa Newydd as a “disaster for the UK economy and future energy needs of the country”.

Its national officer for energy, Peter McIntosh: “This Government should be held to account as it has no coherent policy and has, yet again, let the country down. 

“Government energy policy in recent times has been littered with controversy and confusion from Toshiba pulling out of Moorside to the flawed financing model for Hinkley Point – and now Wylfa.”

“Although this decision has ultimately been made by Hitachi, the UK Government must take a massive share of the blame.”

Mr Hughes also accused the Government off taking “its eye off the ball” with Wylfa Newydd due to its “complete obsession with its disastrous Brexit strategy”.

The distraction of Brexit was also blamed, in part, for the collapse of Moorside, although Prime Minister Theresa May has dismissed the decisions made by Toshiba and Hitachi, as “commercial matters”.