N M Rothschild & Sons

Leading the Push for "New Nuclear"

In June 2005, the newspaper, Sunday Business, reported how "N.M. Rothschild, the London merchant bank, is leading an initiative to finance, build and manage Britain's next generation of nuclear power stations. It plans to create a jointly-owned nuclear power company, provisionally named New Nuclear, that could raise funds and manage the nuclear-build programme.

The paper reported how "The move highlights Rothschild's long-held ambitions to dominate the next phase of nuclear power development. The company was previously adviser to private nuclear generator British Energy for what would have been the Sizewell C power station. Rothschild in 1994 led attempts to raise 3.5bn (E5.3bn, $ 6.4bn) in funding for the plant, which was never built.

The Business has learned that Rothschild has drawn up the plan on behalf of its client, state nuclear group BNFL, which is looking at ways in which a UK nuclear revival could be funded by the private sector".

A source at one of the UK power utilities told the newspaper: ""Rothschild's are very keen to get back into nuclear." ^[1]

External Links

• ^ Richard Orange, "Rothschild Champions Nuclear Joint Venture", Sunday Business, June 26, 2005; a version was printed in Scotland on Sunday