Unions are urging the government to take back control of its nuclear strategy after Toshiba’s deepening financial crisis cast fresh doubt about its involvement in the planned Moorside power station in Cumbria.

Justin Bowden, GMB’s national secretary for energy, described the situation as a “fiasco” after Japan’s Toshiba, the lead party behind Moorside, revealed a $6.3bn writedown in its US Westinghouse business and confirmed it was scaling back investment in new overseas nuclear projects.

Toshiba prompted confusion among investors on Tuesday by saying it was not ready to publish third-quarter results as scheduled, only to announce the write-down in its US nuclear business and resignation of its chairman, Shigenori Shiga, hours later. The company’s shares fell 8% in Tokyo.

Bowden said the UK government had become too reliant on foreign companies for delivering its energy strategy.

“Toshiba’s chairman falling on his sword underlines the gravity of the company’s situation but must not be allowed to jeopardise the future of Moorside and put the security of this country’s energy supply in any more of a precarious situation than it already is,” he said.

“The fiasco with Toshiba shows exactly why relying on foreign companies for our energy needs it just plain stupid.”

Toshiba has a 60% stake in NuGen, the consortium behind the planned Moorside plant. French firm Engie is its partner on the project. The Japanese company first flagged up its financial woes and a potential multibillion-dollar write down in December.

A spokesman for Toshiba said the company remained “committed” to Moorside, but it was unclear how long it would remain involved in the project, or to what extent.

The firm confirmed on Tuesday that it would reduce its role on the construction of new plants, instead focusing on lower risk involvement such as equipment supply and engineering.

Commenting specifically on Moorside, the spokesman said: “Regarding the NuGen project, while Toshiba is committed to invest in the project until the final investment decision, we will subsequently seek to sell our shares to new investor(s). This has been our position from the start. Toshiba will consider participating in the project without taking on any risk from carrying out actual construction work.”

Greg Clark, the business and energy secretary, sought to reassure that the UK project would go ahead. “I have spoken to Toshiba and NuGen today. I welcome the continued commitment of the NuGen consortium to the Moorside project,” he said.



“The UK government is committed to new nuclear as an important part of our energy mix, having commissioned the first new nuclear power station in a generation. The UK is one of the most attractive countries to invest in new nuclear and we continue to work closely with partners to see Moorside built.”

Toshiba said the chairman was resigning to take “management responsibility” for the writedowns related to its US subsidiary, Westinghouse, and its purchase of US construction company CB&I Stone and Webster last year from Chicago Bridge and Iron.

Toshiba warned that the figures it eventually released, including the $6.3bn write-down of its Westinghouse nuclear business, had not yet been approved by its auditors and could still be subject to major revision. The company’s fully audited results are now due to be published on 14 March.

Toshiba’s stock market value has halved to $8.6bn since the financial problems at Westinghouse first came to light in December and it said it would seek to raise cash by selling the US nuclear operation and its Nand flash-memory chips business.

Kevin Coyne, national officer for energy at Unite union, said Toshiba’s indecision and delays would pile “further agony upon this Cumbrian community”.

“The government must get a grip of the funding of these projects. It is the duty of the government, not the private sector, to ensure that UK energy is safe secure and that means it must act to bring our new power stations on stream. Keeping our lights on cannot be left to the whimsy of market forces.”

A decision by Toshiba to scrap Moorside would be a major blow to the government’s strategy for nuclear, one of five areas prioritised in the prime minister’s industrial strategy.



The project, near Sellafield, is a key part of the government’s ambitions for a new generation of nuclear power stations to fill the UK’s energy gap in the next decade as coal plants and ageing atomic plants close.