GE Nuclear and Hitachi Announce Global Joint Venture

Japan's Hitachi Ltd. and U.S. group General Electric Co. said on Monday they would set up joint ventures in Japan and the United States to combine their nuclear power operations and capture more contracts.

The partnership would help Hitachi, Japan's biggest electronics conglomerate, turn its nuclear power business around and help it get more boiling water reactor contracts abroad, Hitachi said.

Hitachi President Kazuo Furukawa told reporters the company aimed to win contracts to build at least a third of the 25 nuclear power plants the U.S. Department of Energy aims to have built by 2020.

Hitachi, which had sales of 160 billion yen ($1.4 billion) from its nuclear power business in Japan last year, will transfer its 2,000-person nuclear power division to a joint venture in Japan.

Hitachi will hold a 80 percent stake in the company, while GE will hold 20 percent.

GE will own 60 percent of the venture in the United States, with Hitachi holding 40 percent, the two companies said. GE has roughly 1,500 employees involved in its $1 billion nuclear power business, GE said.

Wow. More later, as reaction comes in.

Technorati tags: Nuclear Energy, Nuclear Power, Electricity, Environment, Energy, Politics, Technology, Economics, General Electric, Hitachi

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