GE, Hitachi Forge Nuclear Power Plant Alliance

June 20, 2007 // Published as a news service by IHS

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General Electric Co. (GE) and Hitachi Ltd. completed the first half of their agreement to ally their nuclear businesses and become global providers of advanced boiling water reactor (ABWR) nuclear power plants and related services.

The combined businesses will operate as GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy globally and Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy in Japan.

The entities will also offer equipment and services for pressurized water reactors (PWRs), a light-water reactor design popular in certain countries.

According to GE, the businesses will create a broader portfolio of industry solutions, an improved capacity for "new-build" opportunities, and the assets required for investment and expansion.

Since the 1980s, GE and Hitachi have developed ABWRs in Asia, a design that represents the world’s only commercially proven Generation III reactor design, according to GE.

GE and Hitachi partnered on building the first ABWR units to enter service in the mid-1990s, with Hitachi serving as a provider of critical components and utilizing the ABWR design for additional new-build projects in Japan.

There are four ABWRs operating in Japan and several more being built in Asia.

"While GE and Hitachi have collaborated for decades in developing advanced BWR projects, there are relatively few overlapping areas in our respective nuclear businesses," said Andy White, president and CEO of GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy.

GE and Hitachi are also two of the three owners of the Global Nuclear Fuel (GNF) joint venture, a nuclear fuel assembly provider.

GNF remains a separate business entity from the new alliance.

Source: General Electric Co.