TOKYO —

Hitachi Ltd and General Electric Co of the United States are jointly developing a new reactor with an output capacity of up to one million kilowatts for sale in emerging countries, informed sources said Wednesday.

The two companies aim to start accepting orders for the new reactor in Southeast Asia, among other regions, in the early 2010s, the sources said. They intend to capitalize on growing demand for mid-size power reactors in emerging countries that do not have extensive electricity transmission networks.

Engaged in the development is Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy Ltd, a joint venture created last year through the merger of the nuclear power businesses of Hitachi and GE.

Based on their mainstay advanced boiling water reactors with an output capacity of 1.35 million kilowatts, the joint firm is developing a smaller reactor with an output capacity of 600,000-900,000 kilowatts, the sources said.

Adopting the same basic design as the existing large nuclear power reactors allows the new reactor to carry a low price tag and easily pass each country’s screening tests.

JCN

5 Comments

• 

  Altria at 10:44 AM JST - 24th July

  Sweet! I want a reactor that I can store in my closet, but all the 'compact' types currently on the market have crappy power output.

• 

  PepinGalarga at 02:37 PM JST - 24th July

  hmm. what will happen to all the spent uranium and plutonium???

• 

  USARonin at 02:51 PM JST - 24th July

  It can be dumped into a huge hole. There's really no problem to disposin' of this stuff.

  USAR

• 

  chardk1 at 01:57 PM JST - 25th July

  I can just imagine being the sales manager. "A purchase order for eight reactors from a J.I. Kim in Pyongyang . . . what the??"

• 

  rajakumar at 02:43 PM JST - 26th July

  Good idea.

Register or login to add a comment!