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Centrica (CNA.L) is not interested in taking a larger stake in four new nuclear plants to be built by France's EDF (EDF.PA), The Daily Telegraph reported on Tuesday citing sources. EDF, which already owns eight nuclear power stations in the UK after its acquisition of British Energy last year, confirmed over the weekend that it may sell a 20 percent stake worth at least 3 billion pounds ($4.78 billion) in two reactors at Hinkley Point in Somerset and two at Sizewell in Suffolk, the Telegraph reported. Centrica, which bought 20 percent of British Energy for 2.3 billion pounds earlier this year, has the right to take up a 20 percent stake in the new nuclear projects, but is understood not to want a bigger share, the paper said.

Centrica (CNA.L) is not interested in taking a larger stake in four new nuclear plants to be built by France's EDF (EDF.PA), The Daily Telegraph reported on Tuesday citing sources. EDF, which already owns eight nuclear power stations in the UK after its acquisition of British Energy last year, confirmed over the weekend that it may sell a 20 percent stake worth at least 3 billion pounds ($4.78 billion) in two reactors at Hinkley Point in Somerset and two at Sizewell in Suffolk, the Telegraph reported. Centrica, which bought 20 percent of British Energy for 2.3 billion pounds earlier this year, has the right to take up a 20 percent stake in the new nuclear projects, but is understood not to want a bigger share, the paper said.

British Gas owner Centrica and France's state-owned EDF announced on Monday a long-awaited joint venture aimed at relaunching nuclear energy in Britain. EDF, the world's biggest nuclear energy producer, also said it would buy 51 percent of the Belgian electricity company SPE from Centrica for 1.3 billion euros (1.16 billion pounds), the companies said in a joint statement. The deal with Centrica will enable the leading British generator "to take part in the re-launch of nuclear energy in the United Kingdom," said Pierre Gadonneix, chairman and chief executive of EDF.

Centrica, Britain's biggest gas and electricity supplier, is to sound out institutional shareholders about reviving plans for a £22.5bn all-share merger with British Energy, The Sunday Telegraph has learned. Centrica, which owns British Gas, will gauge the appetite of City investors for a paper deal following the last-minute hitch in British Energy's takeover by EDF, the French government-controlled energy group, last week.

Centrica is being barred by the government from making a solo bid for British Energy, according to one of the nuclear generator's largest institutional shareholders. The shareholder, who spoke on condition of anonymity, also questioned why preferred bidder EDF retains the 'irrational total support' of the government.

French energy giant EDF's UK subsidiary EDF Energy would not comment Wednesday on press reports that no deal would be reached with UK's Centrica over ownership of nuclear generator British Energy until after the European Commission ratified the French company's takeover bid. State-controlled EDF's Eur15.6 billion ($22 billion) takeover of British Energy was agreed September 24 by the boards of EDF and British Energy and is subject to UK and EC regulatory approval.

"Nuclear power can play a key role in the U.K.'s future energy mix, Minister Charles Hendry told executives from Electricite de France SA, Centrica Plc and other utilities. While the new coalition government won't subsidize the industry, it will remove regulatory barriers and encourage nuclear power by establishing a minimum price for carbon, the energy minister said at the Nuclear Industry Forum in London. Britain, needing 200 billion pounds ($300 billion) to renew aging power plants in the next two decades, will have to tap international investors for the first time, according to the Department of Energy and Climate Change. "

French energy firm EDF is expected to announce a £12.4bn deal to buy British Energy, the firm which operates the UK's eight nuclear power plants. In addition, Centrica, which owns British Gas, will take 25% of all power generated by British Energy once it is in French hands, the BBC has learnt.

It's been one of the longest negotiations in corporate history, but I have learned that EDF of France - in partnership with Centrica - is likely to announce early next week that it is buying British Energy, the UK's nuclear power generator, for more than £12bn.

EDF is leading the drive to build the next generation of nuclear reactors in Britain According to a report by The Times Online, EDF, the heavily indebted French power group, is close to agreeing a big asset swap with E.ON, its German rival, but it played down reports recently that it was also considering the sale of a 20 percent stake in British Energy, the UK's nuclear generator. EDF, which is leading the drive to build the next generation of nuclear reactors in Britain, has begun a sweeping review of its businesses as it aims to cut its €37 billion (£33.5 billion) debt pile. In May, EDF sold a 20 per cent stake in British Energy, which it bought only a year ago, to Centrica, the British Gas owner, for €2.5 billion. Officials have denied a report in La Tribune that EDF was considering selling a further 20 percent stake in the company to help to fund its plans to build four nuclear reactors in Britain by 2025 however, they did not rule out the possibility.

"New nuclear power plants will be built in the U.K. if utilities pay for them, said Chris Huhne, who was named yesterday as climate change secretary in a coalition government divided on the merits of atomic reactors. Companies including E.ON AG, Electricite de France SA and Centrica Plc want to replace aging reactors in the U.K. as pressure grows to reduce emissions from fossil fuels. Huhne's Liberal Democrats opposed atomic power while the Conservatives, their coalition partner, supported it. The parties yesterday said the Liberals will abstain on nuclear votes. "If they come up with a plan which genuinely involves no public subsidy, and that's the agreement of the coalition, then they'll put it through the new national planning process, and the proposal will go forward," Huhne said in an interview on British Broadcasting Corp. radio's "Today" program. "We're committed in the Liberal Democrats to not vote against it." "

"Centrica and E.ON lobby Liberal Democrat energy secretary to commit government to £30bn nuclear newbuild programme Leaders of the nuclear industry have sought urgent meetings with the new energy secretary, Chris Huhne, amid concern that he will not provide the support needed for their £30bn investment programme in a new generation of reactors. Sam Laidlaw, Centrica's chief executive, and Paul Golby, head of E.ON UK, have scheduled talks in the coming days with Huhne, who has strongly indicated that his primary focus is renewable power."