China to Invest $9 bln in EDF Nuclear Project in Britain

China's CGN has agreed to invest 6 billion pounds ($9 billion) in French utility EDF's Hinkley Point C nuclear power station project in Britain, the companies announced on Wednesday during Chinese President Xi Jinping's state visit to Britain.

China General Nuclear (CGN) will take a 33.5 percent stake in the 18 billion-pound ($28 billion) project in southwest England, whose start-up date has been pushed back by two years to 2025, and which will be the first nuclear new-build in Europe since the Fukushima disaster.

"This decision proves that nuclear is an essential source of low-carbon electric power in Europe," EDF Chief Executive Jean-Bernard Levy said on a conference call.

The Chinese utility has also agreed to help EDF build two more Areva-designed EPR reactors at Sizewell, east England, and EDF has agreed to help CGN win a licence to build a Chinese-designed nuclear reactor in Britain at the Bradwell site east of London.

(Reporting by Karolin Schaps in London and Geert De Clerq in Paris)