Hitachi and GE to build two US nuclear reactors

Japan's Hitachi Ltd and General Electric Co plan to jointly build two nuclear power plants in Texas at a cost of USD 5.2 bln, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun or Nikkei, one of the largest media corporations in Japan, reported in its Friday morning edition without mentioning sources.

Hitachi and GE will build two 1.35 million kilowatts upgraded boiling water reactors in the suburbs of Houston for NRG Energy Inc, which said it officially informed the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Monday of its intent to construct reactors.

The construction on the project is expected to start in 2009, with the facilities to become operational in 2014.

However, a GE spokesman in the U.S. refused to confirm the report or comment on it.

In a statement, NRG said it contemplates to work with GE and Hitachi in the development of the project, but did not mentioned division of roles in terms of design, manufacturing and installation of core equipment. NRG also stated the project is likely to inject $ 9.2 billion into the state economy and result in 5,600 new permanent jobs statewide.

Hitachi, which has constructed 23 reactors in Japan and Taiwan, will hopefully handle manufacturing and installing of core equipment, such as steam turbines, while GE is likely to handle regulatory issues, as well as procurement of fuels, among other tasks.

GE's boiling water reactor design has been certified by American nuclear regulatory agencies. Hitachi is nowadays involved in the development and construction of four reactors of that type in Japan.

Currently, there are 104 commercial nuclear generating units operating in the U.S. under license by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

As, no new plant has been commissioned in the U.S. since the 1970s, the recent planned nuclear power plants, if approved, will be the first in about 30 years.