UK nuclear plans in doubt as Toshiba boss steps down

Plans by Toshiba (Swiss: TOSH.SW - news) to build a new nuclear power station in the UK are in doubt after the company revealed a multibillion-dollar loss.

Chairman Shigenori Shiga announced he was stepping down after Toshiba said it was on track to book a net loss of 390bn yen (£2.7bn) for the year to the end of March.

It leaves the future of a planned £10bn nuclear plant at Moorside, near Sellafield, in doubt.

Toshiba owns a 60% stake in Nugen, the company that was planning to build the site.

In its statement the company said: "Toshiba will consider participating in the project without taking on any risk from carrying out actual construction work.

"As planned from the beginning, Toshiba will seek to sell the shares to interested parties."

In a statement, Nugen said it "remains committed" to developing the project.

However, a Toshiba pull-out would leave the UK Government needing to seek new backers.

Unions in the UK are calling for action from the Government to try to ensure a new plant is built in Cumbria.

Rebecca Long-Bailey, the shadow business secretary, said the Government's energy policy was in "chaos".

"We have become increasingly reliant on the decisions of foreign companies whose interests lie with their owners and not British consumers," she said.

Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) in Toshiba fell by 8% after it said its third quarter earnings report had "not yet become available" - pointing to accounting issues over its US nuclear (Other OTC: UCLE - news) firm Westinghouse.

This was after taking a 712.5bn yen (£5bn) loss on its nuclear business.

In a statement about the delay on the report, the firm said: "The company deeply regrets the need for this course of action and expresses its sincerest apologies to its shareholders, investors and all other stakeholders."

Toshiba has been going through a troubled period and has already sold its medical devices unit to Canon (Other OTC: CAJFF - news) and most of its appliance business to China's Midea Group (Shenzhen: 000333.SZ - news) , as it tries to turn around its fortunes.

It is also hoping to sell off its memory chip business to repair its struggling balance sheet.