US, Japan to collaborate on nuclear plants

Jan 9, 2007, 19:50 GMT

Washington - The United States and Japan are developing a joint nuclear energy plan to collaborate on research and construction of new nuclear power plants, US and Japanese officials said Tuesday in Washington.

US Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman and Akira Amari, Japanese minister of economy, trade and industry, met in Washington to discuss energy cooperation between their countries.

The ministers said they intend to announce a plan by April to address research and development under the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership, the construction of new nuclear power plants and regulatory and nonproliferation-related nuclear exchanges.

Bodman said specific plans are to be developed over the next three months, but will likely include tapping Japanese engineers to work on new nuclear energy plants in the US.

In the United States, 103 nuclear plants produce nearly 20 per cent of the nation's electricity, but since the twin shocks of Chernobyl in 1986 and Three Mile Island in 1979, only one plant has come on line, in 1996.

But growing concern about energy self-sufficiency and global warming have increased interest in new plants, and the Nuclear Energy Institute trade group said last year that 14 new plants were in the works for the US.

Bodman and Amari also discussed clean coal initiatives and efforts to develop energy policies with India and China.

Amari was also to meet with US Trade Representative Susan Schwab, and Bodman was also scheduled to discuss energy policy with Japanese Finance Minister Koji Omi.