Toshiba wins $4.9 bln NRG reactor deal-Nikkei
(Adds comments, background, updates share price)
TOKYO, June 27 (Reuters) - Toshiba Corp. (6502.T) snatched up an order from NRG Energy Inc. (NRG.N) to build two U.S. nuclear power reactors, a project that had been expected to go to General Electric Co. (GE.N) and Hitachi Ltd. (6501.T), the Nikkei business daily reported on Wednesday.
The project is estimated to be worth 600 billion yen ($4.86 billion), and losing the order is a blow to Hitachi as Japanese firms race to expand their nuclear businesses overseas.
Toshiba spokesman Keisuke Ohmori said no final agreement had been signed. He declined to comment on whether the company had signed a letter of intent with NRG on the deal.
Hitachi said it is still in the running on the bid, and that it is still in negotiations with NRG.
The order is for two 1.35 million kilowatt advanced boiling water reactors in Houston, Texas, to go online as early as 2014, as nuclear power wins favour in the U.S. amid fears of global warming and rising prices of natural gas and oil.
NRG had filed papers with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission last June, naming GE and Hitachi as the firms to build the reactors, but the agreement had not been finalised.
That plan hit a snag after some Hitachi-made turbines broke down last summer at Chubu Electric Power Co. (9502.T) and Hokuriku Electric Power Co.(9505.T), leading to shutdowns at their plants.
If Toshiba becomes lead contractor on the project, this would be positive for Toshiba's share price over the medium-to-long term, as well as for other nuclear-related stocks in Japan, said Naoki Koga, senior fund manager at Toyota Asset Management.
"It's positive that the market for Toshiba's technology gains in size, especially when the U.S. is eager to start building more nuclear reactors," he said.
The U.S. plans to begin building 30 new nuclear reactors by 2015.
Resource-starved Japan has developed nuclear plant technologies that it is eager to export, and reactor makers have partnered with foreign firms, hoping their brands would help them win more bids abroad.
Toshiba bought a 77 percent stake in Westinghouse, the U.S. power plant unit of British Nuclear Fuels, late last year, while Hitachi has fused its nuclear unit with GE, and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (7011.T) has partnered with France's Areva CEPFi.PA.
Toshiba shares jumped as much as 3.2 percent on the report before closing the morning session up 1.2 percent at 1,036 yen, while shares at supplier Toshiba Plant Systems & Services Corp. (1983.T) rose 7 percent to 1,037 yen.
Hitachi shares were down 0.8 percent at 882 yen.
((Reporting by Mayumi Negishi and Aiko Hayashi, editing by Malcolm Whittaker; Reuters Messaging: mayumi.negishi.reuters.com@reuters.net;
+81-3-3432-8618; mayumi.negishi@reuters.com))
($1=123.46 Yen) Keywords: TOSHIBA NRG/NUCLEAR
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