US-based Westinghouse Electric Co has reiterated to Chinese authorities its unchanged commitment to technology bidding for two nuclear power plants in Zhejiang and Guangdong provinces, sources say. This follows an announcement that the US-based nuclear company is being acquired by Japanese firm Toshiba Corp.

 

Three foreign nuclear companies, Westinghouse and another two firms from France and Russia, are in the running for a bid deciding the technology used to construct four nuclear reactors at the two sites.

 

Toshiba, Japan's biggest maker of nuclear power plant equipment, last week announced it would pay US$5.4 billion to buy Westinghouse.

 

The move triggered doubts whether that would affect an important bid that could total US$8 billion, in which Westinghouse is involved.

 

Westinghouse recently sent a letter to authorities stressing the Toshiba buyout would not change its development strategy in China's booming nuclear power-generation industry.

 

A senior advisor from State Nuclear Power Technology Corp of China (SNPTC), who declined to be named, confirmed this to China Daily, saying: "We got the letter a few days ago."

 

SNPTC is a government-designated body that carries out talks with foreign nuclear reactor builders.

 

Westinghouse and Toshiba yesterday were not immediately available for comment.

 

The international bidding was originally planned to be completed by the end of last year, but a source involved in the talks earlier disclosed to China Daily that the negotiation would be delayed to the first half of this year, because of disagreements over technology and price.

 

China has used nuclear technologies from France, Canada and Russia in building its nuclear plants in Guangdong, Zhejiang and Jiangsu.

 

If Westinghouse wins the bid, it would be its first nuclear project in China, the world's second-biggest energy consumer after the United States.

 

(China Daily February 16, 2006)