BRITAIN gave the go-ahead for a US$24 billion nuclear power plant late Thursday, ending weeks of uncertainty that had strained ties with China, which will help pay for it, and France, which will build it.

    Prime Minister Theresa May’s government signaled it would take a more cautious approach in future over foreign investment in big infrastructure projects than her predecessor David Cameron.

    But ultimately, after stunning Paris and Beijing by putting the deal on hold in July after May took office, it agreed to go ahead with the Hinkley Point C project in southwest England.

    Britain’s first new nuclear power plant in decades will be built by French state-controlled utility firm EDF, backed by US$8 billion of Chinese cash.

    The deal is part of a recovery of the global nuclear power industry following a slump caused by the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan.

    The government drew fire for approving it without renegotiating the price British consumers will pay for electricity. The opposition Labor Party supports the project in principle but says its guarantee to pay a minimum of roughly double the current market price for electricity for 35 years is a rip-off.

    May’s government said a new investment policy would give it greater control over future deals when foreign states are involved in “critical infrastructure,” a departure from the more open approach pursued by Cameron.

    Supporters of the project said Britain needed to protect its relations with major economies after voting to leave the European Union, and show it was open for business.

    The Chinese Foreign Ministry said it welcomed the decision while Britain’s finance minister Philip Hammond said it continued the strategic partnership between the two countries.

    Under the new plan, the government will be able to block the sale of EDF’s controlling stake before or after completion of the project — a proviso it said it would apply to significant stakes in all future nuclear projects. EDF said it had agreed with the government to retain control of the project and would sign the deal “in the coming days.”

    China General Nuclear Power Corporation (CGN) — the project’s Chinese State-backed investor — and business lobby groups also welcomed the decision on Hinkley.

    “We are very happy the British Government has approved the project,” CGN said in a statement.

    The two new reactors at Hinkley Point are scheduled to be running by the middle of next decade and provide around 7 percent of Britain’s electricity, helping to fill a supply gap as the country’s coal plants are set to close by 2025.

    (SD-Agencies)