Hitachi to Develop Next-Generation Nuclear Reactor in United States with GE

Typography
Hitachi Ltd. will build a next-generation nuclear power reactor jointly with General Electric Co., participating in a U.S. project to resume the construction of nuclear power plants, Hitachi officials said Monday.

Oct. 18—TOKYO — Hitachi Ltd. will build a next-generation nuclear power reactor jointly with General Electric Co., participating in a U.S. project to resume the construction of nuclear power plants, Hitachi officials said Monday.


The two companies are planning to develop a highly efficient reactor called the economic and simplified boiling-water reactor, based on an advanced model of boiling-water reactors, the officials said.


The reactor will be installed at a nuclear power plant two major U.S. utility companies — Exelon Corp. and Entergy Corp. — are planning to build. The companies have applied to the government for the plant construction.


The Hitachi-GE plan is a part of the U.S. Energy Department's initiative aimed at building new nuclear power plants by 2010.


No new nuclear plants have been constructed in the United States since the 1979 accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant near Middletown, Pennsylvania, but the administration of President George W. Bush is pushing for construction of a new plant.


© 2004, Kyodo News International, Tokyo. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.