New life for British nuclear power plans

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LONDON, June 20 (UPI) -- Chinese energy companies announced they've submitted bids to build nuclear power plants in Great Britain after German companies backed out.

German energy companies RWE and E.ON pulled out of plans in March to build nuclear power plants in the country and put their Horizon joint nuclear power venture up for sale.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel in March ordered the country's nuclear power plants closed in response to the meltdown of Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in 2011.

Both German companies retreated from plans to invest $23.5 billion in the Horizon venture after the Fukushima disaster.

The Daily Telegraph newspaper in London reports that a consortium of European and Chinese companies are bidding on the Horizon venture, which has the rights to land selected for nuclear power plants in the country.

The Horizon joint venture had plans to install as much as 6,000 megawatts of nuclear power in Britain.

British Energy Minister Charles Hendry had said that, despite the shakeup, the nuclear future for the country was bright.