GETTY David Cameron is set to agree a nuclear power deal with China next month

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The deal, part of a wide-ranging civil nuclear pact between Britain, France and China, may be sealed in October during the Chinese president's state visit. The plant is the price Beijing wants in return for its agreement to help pay for two new plants to be built by France's EDF Energy - one at Hinkley Point in Somerset and the other at Sizewell, Suffolk. EDF has admitted that Hinkley Point - Britain's first atomic power station in almost two decades - is already facing delays.

It was originally scheduled to open in 2017, but disputes over how it will be funded have held up the start of work - with EDF admitting it would not open before 2024. Problems with the EPR reactor design have also halted progress. However, David Cameron is adamant to get the project off the ground - which is at the core of the Government's drive to replace Britain's ageing fossil fuel plants with low-carbon alternatives. A similar EDF plant in Flamanville, France, has gone three times over budget and fallen six years behind schedule. Hinkley Point, which will be twice as big, is on course to become the world’s most expensive power station. The Chinese - who are currently have 26 nuclear power reactors in operation - are vital to Britain's low-carbon initiative. Whitehall officers are said to be hammering out the final details of an agreement under which two of Beijing's state power companies - China General Nuclear and China National Nuclear Corporation - will take a large minority stake in Hinkley Point.

GETTY Protests outside Hinkley Point nuclear power station