Hitachi wants nuclear business in Mideast

Hitachi aims to built 150 nuclear plants worldwide by 2030.

Japanese technology giant Hitachi is aiming to build 13 nuclear power plants in the Middle East, India and Southeast Asia, the company has said.

Masayuki Fukutomi, a spokesperson from the Hitachi Middle East branch said that the Japanese firm, which was the third largest technological company by revenue in 2009, is planning to build 150 nuclear power plants across the world by 2030.

The head office in Tokyo confirmed in a statement that 13 of these were likely to be located in India, Southeast Asia and Middle East, but did not give any further breakdown by country.

Earlier this week, it was reported by the Nikkei news website in Tokyo that Hitachi’s nuclear power operations made 210 billion yen ($2.3bn) in 2009.

Hitachi’s executive officer Koji Tanaka also confirmed that the firm is planning to partner with US firm General Electric to launch joint operations in Asia and the Middle East.

A consortium comprising General Electric and Hitachi was one of the bids that failed to win the UAE’s recent $40bn nuclear power contract. The deal, the largest energy contract in the Middle East, was eventually won by South Korean state-owned utility firm, Korea Electric Power (KEPCO).
 

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