Horizon CEO says new UK shareholding rules won't impact its nuclear plans

PARIS, Sept 15 (Reuters) - The new legal framework for future foreign investment in British nuclear projects will have no impact on the Horizon project, its chief executive said.

Horizon, a nuclear new build group in Britain owned by Japan's Hitachi's, plans to build at least 5.4 gigawatts of new nuclear capacity across two sites in Britain.

Britain on Monday gave the go-ahead for an 18 billion pound ($23.75 billion) Franco-Chinese project to build two nuclear reactors in Hinkley Point but said that after Hinkley, the government will take a special share in all future nuclear newbuild projects. This will ensure significant stakes cannot be sold without the government's knowledge or consent, it added.

"It is not a surprise to us. The UK have just brought themselves into line with other international regulations," Horizon chief executive Duncan Hawthorne told Reuters, adding that Canada and the U.S. have the same controls on foreign ownership of nuclear facilities.

"I do not think it impacts our project at all," he said. ($1 = 0.7577 pounds) (Reporting by Geert De Clercq; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)