General Electric (GE) Joins Nuclear Showdown in Japan

With billions at state and uncertainty surrounding the outcome of the desperate battle of the Japanese to prevent a meltdown of their nuclear reactors which could end up with an enormous amount of radiation being released, General Electric (NYSE:GE) has finally stepped up its efforts to help mitigate the crisis.

The U.S. conglomerate's delivery of equipment and expertise may help an overwhelmed customer, Tokyo Electric Power Co., deal with an unprecedented crisis. Its expertise could also help GE begin controlling the collateral damage to the company's reputation from the failure of the reactors' cooling systems after the devastating earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan last week.

The extensive media coverage linking GE to the reactors could hamper the company as it competes to sell new reactor designs around the world through its nuclear joint venture with Japan's Hitachi Ltd. Billions of dollars in reactor sales are potentially at risk, and billions more in vendor contracts to service them.

Though they are based on a design decades older than the ones GE currently markets, all the endangered reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant are the boiling-water type, which the company still offers, and that may cause potential customers to raise questions about the technology.

"Just like the whole industry, we want to look at the details of what happened here. There is going to be a lot of discussion, and we're part of that process," a GE spokesman said, adding that the company's immediate focus is providing assistance.




Source