Japan moved to secure its role in the global, civil nuclear sector Tuesday by setting up a government-backed organization to promote Japanese technology and fight off competition for multibillion-dollar contracts from rivals such as South Korea.
Japan
moved
to secure its role in the global, civil nuclear sector Tuesday by setting up a
government-backed organization to promote Japanese technology and fight off
competition for multibillion-dollar contracts from rivals such as
South
Korea
.
Six companies--Tokyo Electric Power Co. (9501.TO), Chubu Electric Power Co. (9502.TO),
Kansai Electric Power Co. (9503.TO), Toshiba Corp. (6502.TO, TOSYY), Hitachi
Ltd. (6501.TO, HIT) and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. (7011.TO)--said
Tuesday that they have set up a preparatory organization to sell
nuclear-power-plant construction and operation technologies overseas.
"This is the first, important step toward promoting
Japan
's
nuclear-power technologies in emerging countries by private- and public-sector
cooperation," said
Masayuki Naoshima
,
Japan
's
minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, following the joint announcement.
The Japanese government hasn't disclosed the value of its planned investment in
the group.
The group is targeting a second-phase nuclear-power project in
Vietnam
, as
well as projects in countries that plan to introduce nuclear power but have
little experience, officials at the partner companies said.
Vietnam
said
last month that it plans to build 13 nuclear reactors with a combined capacity
of 15 gigawatts by 2030, while
Thailand
and
Indonesia
are
among nations considering whether to build nuclear reactors.
Malaysia
's
state-owned power company Tenaga Nasional Bhd. (5347.KU) said in late June that
it expected to sign an agreement soon with Korea Electric Power Corp. (015670.SE),
or Kepco, for initial work on what would be
Malaysia
's
first nuclear-power plant.
The new Japanese organization will start drawing up marketing plans and risk
assessments for
Vietnam
, and
in the fall the government will join to form a national joint venture, the
officials said.
Of the six companies,
Hitachi
and
Mitsubishi Heavy already are in cooperation with General Electric Co. (GE) and
Areva SA (CEI.FR) in the nuclear-power sector. The two Japanese concerns'
participation in the six-company organization won't affect their current
relationships, and they will continue to work with GE and Areva when necessary,
spokesmen at
Hitachi
and
Mitsubishi Heavy said.
Naoshima said, "We will quickly deal with any policy challenges on our
side, including high-level talks between governments, efforts toward more
nuclear cooperation agreements [with other countries], necessary support such
as related education and legislation, and more risk-taking by governmental
organizations."
The effort is a response to Japanese companies suffering bitter losses when
bidding for nuclear-power contracts in the
United
Arab Emirates
and
Vietnam
. The
losses were a huge disappointment for
Japan
,
where the government hopes to prop up the economy by selling low-carbon
technologies overseas.
In December, a government-led South Korean consortium won a $20.4 billion
contract to build four nuclear reactors in the U.A.E., beating a U.S.-Japanese
consortium involving GE and Hitachi and a French consortium that included
Areva. The Nikkei reported this year that the Russian government had won a 1.5
trillion yen ($17.1 billion) contract for
Vietnam
's
first-phase nuclear-plant project in exchange for military support.
Japan's private-public marriage "is a reasonable step, given that the
nuclear-related business needs government involvement to prevent [weapons]
proliferation, including cooperation between governments," said Hirofumi
Kawachi, analyst with Mizuho Investors Securities Co.
Last week in Tokyo, Japan had its first meeting regarding nuclear cooperation
with India, after long hesitating to open such talks with New Delhi, a
nonsignatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The talks came after
rival
South Korea
began
such talks with energy-hungry
India
earlier in June.
French energy companies--state-controlled behemoth Electricite de France SA
(EDF.FR), nuclear-engineering company Areva engineering group Alstom SA
(ALO.FR, ALS), utility GDF Suez SA (GSZ.FR) and oil major Total SA (FP.FR,
TOT)--have no formal arrangement when considering international contracts and
tend to work together on an ad hoc basis.
The French government commissioned a report in December after the lack of a
formal arrangement was blamed for the failure to win the nuclear-plant contract
in the U.A.E. The report is classified because it involves military issues, and
it remains unclear whether the government plans to act on any recommendations
the report may contain.
By contrast,
Russia
's
nuclear industry is tightly controlled by the government. The country's former
president and current prime minister, Vladimir Putin, has helped negotiate
several deals around the world for state nuclear agency Rosatom.
Russia
recently completed delivering equipment for two reactors in
India
and
is hoping to get in on
India
's
ambitious project to build 16 new reactors. In March, Putin offered
India
a
stake in one of the world's biggest uranium fields, in a move that demonstrated
how it can leverage its huge reserves in natural resources to win contracts.
China
is
another enormous potential market for
Japan
.
Japanese companies already have a strong presence there.
China
is
undertaking a massive expansion in nuclear power, expanding its current nine
gigawatts of nuclear capacity from 11 reactors to 70-80 GW by 2020 and 200 GW
by 2030.
Last month, Gu Jun, president of Sanmen Nuclear Power Co., said
China
plans
to sign a new agreement with Westinghouse Electric Co. of the
U.S.
, a
unit of Toshiba, to build more reactors at the Sanmen nuclear plant in eastern
China
.
China
agreed in July 2007 to buy four third-generation pressurized water reactors
from Westinghouse: two at Sanmen and two at Haiyang city in the
northern
province
of
Shandong
. That
agreement involved the transfer of advanced nuclear technology to
China
.
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