The company is said to have an option of buying a 20% interest in four proposed new reactors, two at Hinkley Point in Somerset and two at Sizewell in Suffolk, in a partnership with French utility EDF.
Centrica’s senior management had concluded that the investment in new nuclear plants was not right for the firm, amid concerns about rising costs since the Fukushima disaster in 2011, reports Financial Times.
The company instead may focus on investing in North America, North Sea natural gas and Race Bank, a wind power project it intends to set up off the Norfolk coast.
The British firm may write off the £200m pounds it had spent as its share of advanced costs. Meanwhile, Centrica will retain its 20% stake in eight existing nuclear power plants in the UK.
