Japan and US announce joint N-plant projects

Japanese and US companies plan to develop cheaper and safer next-generation nuclear reactors in cross-border collaborations, company officials said today.

Toshiba, Hitachi and General Electric will develop a 1,700-Megawatt advanced boiling-water reactor by 2015, said Hitachi spokesman Keiisaku Shibatani.

Further details were not yet available, he said, adding that the companies previously cooperated in designing and building a reactor in Niigata prefecture (state) in northern Japan in 1996.