GDF-Suez yesterday became the latest French company to set its sights on the UK’s nuclear industry when it unveiled plans for a joint venture to help to build new reactors in Britain.

GDF-Suez, 35 per cent-owned by the French Government, said that it had formed a partnership with Iberdrola, the Spanish owner of ScottishPower.

Together, they plan to build at least two new reactors in the UK on existing nuclear sites that are due to be sold by the Government.

GDF-Suez and Iberdrola are expected to each control a 40 per cent stake in the venture. Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE) is expected to join as junior partner, with 20 per cent.

Vatenfall, the Swedish utility group, is in talks with GDF-Suez and Iberdrola about entering alongside SSE as a junior equity partner.

Industry estimates suggest that the cost of building the reactors will be about £3.3 billion per 1,000 megawatts of new nuclear generating capacity.

Depending on the technology used, two new reactors would generate a minimum of 2,000 megawatts of power, indicating an investment of at least £6.6 billion.

GDF-Suez, formed by a merger of GDF and Suez last year, is one of France’s largest companies and a descendant of the Compagnie Universelle du Canal Maritime de Suez, which built the Suez canal in the 19th century. It has 40 years of experience in the nuclear industry – mainly as a builder of reactors – and is also heavily involved in natural gas production, processing and distribution, as well as in water and environmental services.

A spokesman said that the group already operates seven nuclear reactors in Belgium and has stakes in two others in France. It is also collaborating on construction of new stations in France and Abu Dhabi and has ambitions to build new reactors in Bulgaria, Romania and Brazil.

GDF-Suez is the third leading French company to seek a role in the rebirth of Britain’s nuclear industry.

EDF, the French energy group, completed the £12.5 billion acquisition of British Energy last month – a deal giving it access to most of the preferred sites for new nuclear stations in the UK. Areva, the French nuclear reactor designer, is viewing Britain as a potentially lucrative market for its EPR reactor design. The French State owns 85 per cent of EDF and 90 per cent of Areva.

EDF has pledged to build four EPR reactors in Britain, probably two each at Sizewell, in Suffolk, and Hinkley Point, in Somerset.

GDF-Suez said that it had not selected a particular technology, although in France it is using technology from Areva. The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority is set to sell land earmarked for the development of new reactors at four sites, including Bradwell, Essex; Wylfa, Anglesey; Oldbury, Gloucestershire; and Sellafield, West Cumbria.

RWE and E.ON, two German companies, also formed a joint venture last month to build at least 6,000 megawatts of new nuclear generating capacity in the UK. They are expected to bid for the Oldbury and Wylfa sites, where they already have some access.

GDF-Suez and Iberdrola could compete for access to these sites or may opt to gain access to the remaining two at Bradwell and Sellafield.

GDF-Suez employs about 198,000 people around the world. It had revenues of about €74 billion in 2007.

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