Unions have demanded clarity over the future of a planned nuclear plant in the UK after Toshiba, a leading player in the project, revealed a multibillion-dollar loss.

The Japanese conglomerate owns a 60% stake in Nugen, the company that is planning to build the nuclear plant at Moorside, near Sellafield, in Cumbria.

Nugen has said it "remains committed" to developing the project but the Unite union has demanded answers after Toshiba said it was on track to book a net loss of 390bn yen (£2.7bn) for the year to the end of March.

Unite's national officer Kevin Coyne said: "Toshiba's announcement today that there will be yet another month's delay on providing clarity over its future involvement in the Moorside project piles further agony upon this Cumbrian community.

"But it also reinforces what Unite has been saying for some time which is that the Government must get a grip of the funding of these projects."


The Government has said it remains committed to nuclear.

Image: Toshiba chairman Shigenori Shiga (right) with Satoshi Tsunakawa, the company's president

While Nugen says it still intend to develop a nuclear plant at Moorside, Toshiba itself has been more ambiguous.

In a statement the company said: "Toshiba will consider participating in the project without taking on any risk from carrying out actual construction work.

"As planned from the beginning, Toshiba will seek to sell the shares to interested parties."

Toshiba's financial problems have raised concerns about the viability of many of its overseas plans.

The company's chairman, Shigenori Shiga, announced he was stepping down after it said its third quarter earnings report had "not yet become available" - pointing to accounting issues over its US nuclear firm Westinghouse.

Toshiba shares fell 8% on the news.

In a statement about the delay on the report, the firm said: "The company deeply regrets the need for this course of action and expresses its sincerest apologies to its shareholders, investors and all other stakeholders."

Toshiba has been going through a troubled period and has already sold its medical devices unit to Canon and most of its appliance business to China's Midea Group, as it tries to turn around its fortunes.

It is also hoping to sell off its memory chip business to repair its struggling balance sheet.