Memorandum

It states that the Government of the People's Republic of China and the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland:

1) Recognise the significant on-going cooperation between the Participants in the energy sector and the long-standing Agreement between the Participants on Co-operation in the Peaceful uses of Nuclear Energy;

2) Acknowledge the part nuclear energy can play in an appropriate mix of environmentally sustainable, safe, secure and cost-effective existing and future sources of energy;

3) Express their willingness to foster increased cooperation in their respective domestic markets through investment, deployment of technology and expertise and the construction of civil nuclear energy projects;

4) Express their willingness to jointly explore opportunities for cooperation in third country markets to mutual commercial benefit;

5) Affirm their commitment towards further enhancing bilateral cooperation in the civil nuclear energy sector by encouraging and facilitating the building of closer relationships between relevant Government agencies, intermediaries, independent regulatory agencies, academic and financial institutions, developers and other enterprises active in the civil nuclear energy sector;

6) In addition to developing closer links between their nuclear energy industries, the Participants share a commitment to ensuring the non-proliferation of nuclear material, technology and expertise.

Facts

China has the largest new nuclear build market in the world and has 17 nuclear reactors in operation, accounting for 1% (13 GW) of China's electricity production capacity. Another 28 nuclear plants are under construction and the total nuclear capacity is set to rise to 80 GW by 2020, 200 GW by 2030, and 400 GW by 2050.

The UK currently has around 10 GW of nuclear capacity with up to 16GW of new capacity planned by energy companies over the long term.

Chinese companies have strong credentials and an established track record in delivering safe nuclear power over the past thirty years; China is building the latest third-generation reactors in partnership with global leaders such as Areva and Westinghouse. The reactor at Taishan, is a partnership between EDF and CGN, using Areva's EPR reactor technology, the same technology that EDF would use at any reactor in Britain.