Mitsubishi Heavy Expects First Europe Reactor Sale

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Jan. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., which has developed the world’s biggest atomic reactor, expects to win its first nuclear power plant order in Europe next year, challenging Areva SA in its own backyard.

Japan’s largest heavy machinery maker anticipates a “high possibility” of a utility in northern Europe selecting its new 1,700-megawatt model that comes with advanced fault detection technology, Akira Sawa, head of the company’s atomic business, said in an interview. The U.K. and Switzerland have also sought atomic plant proposals from Mitsubishi Heavy, he said.

“We should be able to expand smoothly into other European countries after Northern European governments, which impose tough regulations, sign off on our product,” Sawa, 61, said Jan. 19 in Tokyo. He declined to name the company or country Mitsubishi expects to win the order from.

Teollisuuden Voima Oyj, the Finnish utility known as TVO, said it shortlisted Mitsubishi Heavy’s EU-APWR model along with reactors from Areva, Toshiba Corp., GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy and Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. Asian suppliers are making competition tougher for France’s Areva, the world’s biggest reactor builder, which lost a $20 billion contract in the United Arab Emirates last month to a group led by Korea Electric Power Corp.

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