The move by Hitachi to take on the Horizon Nuclear Power project
marks a shift in technology direction for the UK, which had been
set to replace older gas-graphite reactors with pressurized
water units. Industry said the broadening of scope was "good
news for the UK supply chain." Generation I and II units from
the UK's former national nuclear program were based on graphite-
moderated cores cooled by carbon dioxide. A project in the 1990s
to compliment these with a tranche of ten pressurized water
reactors resulted in just one, Sizewell B. In the UK's current
push for nuclear power it has been up to private investors to
make technology choices, not the government. Based on
discussions with vendors and utilities, the first two designs to
go through the Generic Design Assessment (GDA) process have both
been pressurized water reactors: the Areva EPR and Westinghouse
AP1000. Hitachi's move today to purchase Horizon and put forward
its boiling water technology means that will also become an
option after another rou