Speculation continues to mount that the owner of a Gloucester-based energy firm could scrap its UK nuclear power plant project.

News channels have begun running stories highlighting worries Hitachi could scrap the Horizon nuclear power plant development due to potential increases in construction costs.

According to the BBC Gloucester-headquartered Horizon said "no formal decision" had been made over its future after reports in the Nikkei Asian Review that construction would be halted.

The Review reported the board of Horizon's parent company, Hitachi, could decide next week to suspend all work on its plant at Wylfa Newydd, Anglesey.

It was reported before Christmas that Hitachi would be doing its everything it could to ensure the project went ahead.

According to the UK Government's Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy negotiations with the Japanese are ingoing and it would not speculate on the outcome.

Shares in Hitachi rose eight per cent after news broke the project could be suspended.