American light water reactor sales were offered to Western Europe, Asia and elsewhere under Section 123 of the 1954 U.S. Atomic Energy Act, thereby, making General Electric, Westinghouse, Babcock & Wilcox and Combustion Engineering the major reactor suppliers in the world.
It has called on the British government to support new nuclear plants to speed their construction.One way to keep costs down could be for EDF to encourage competition among reactor suppliers by abandoning its reflexive use of the EPR.
He wants the government to do more to support hi-tech industries such as biosciences, digital and low carbon manufacturers (which include everyone from reactor suppliers to builders of wind farms).
In response, three consortia of electric utility companies, reactor suppliers, and construction firms have made proposals.
A decision to proceed might be made in 2007, followed by a commercial choice of reactor and supplier, a safety licensing process, a public inquiry and a period for construction and commissioning.
Existing international conventions place liability solely with the operator of a nuclear reactor while immunizing suppliers.
One solution would be a global supplier of reactor fuel, which takes back spent fuel from customers around the world for reprocessing.
Hitachi, the country's second biggest supplier of reactors, has a team of 50 experts working on its dismantling plan.
Ahead of the second anniversary of the disaster on Monday, Greenpeace is demanding that reactor operators and their suppliers, such as GE, Hitachi and Toshiba, be held fully responsible for potential nuclear accidents.
The experience of Areva, a French supplier of nuclear reactors, which is building a new reactor in Finland, has shown that costs and timetables can spiral out of control.
