Makiko Yamazaki, of Reuters, reports that the Toshiba Corp may need to curb its ambitions in nuclear power even as it looks set to win a deal in India, battling both competition from emerging market rivals and the impact of its own deteriorating finances, industry experts said. A senior Indian government official told Reuters that the country expects to seal a contract with the Toshiba U.S. nuclear unit, Westinghouse, to build six nuclear reactors in the first half of next year.
The deal, estimated to be worth as much as $2 billion per reactor, is a blessing for Toshiba as the laptop-to-nuclear conglomerate overhauls its loss-making consumer electronics division in the wake of a $1.3 billion book-keeping scandal. Yet industry experts say it is far from securing its goal of building 64 reactors over the next 15 years. Moreover, they say Russia and China are beefing up efforts to export their own reactors with lower prices.
In 2013, Toshiba lost to the Russia Rosatom in supplying the Finland Fennovoima power plant project, and analysts say there is little assurance Toshiba will beat out cheaper manufacturers vying for contracts in emerging countries such as China, India and Turkey.
Hideo Kubota, nuclear expert at the Japan Tepia Research Institute, said that he expects Russia and China to eventually dominate the nuclear plant construction market. Their reactors are significantly price competitive, he noted.
Resource Portal for I2M Clients, Associates, and Geoscientists
Managed & Built by I2M Consulting, LLC | © 2010-
Managed & Built by I2M Consulting, LLC | © 2010-