Dec. 16 - China and the United States on Saturday signed an agreement that paves the way for Westinghouse Electric Co. to build four civilian nuclear reactors in China, a multibillion dollar deal.

 

The memorandum of understanding was signed by China's Minister for the National Development and Reform Commission Ma Kai and U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman.

 

Stephen Tritch, Westinghouse's president and CEO, said the details of the contract have yet to be finalized but that it was a multibillion dollar deal. He said the company want the plants up and running by 2013.

 

Westinghouse, which was acquired by Japan's Toshiba Corp. earlier this year from British Nuclear Fuels PLC, had been vying with the French nuclear group AREVA and Russia's AtomStroyExport to win the lucrative contract for building facilities at Sanmen, in the eastern province of Zhejiang, and at Yangjiang in southern China's Guangdong province.

 

China is building scores of new nuclear power plants, seeking the latest technology from industry leaders while working to shore up its own expertise.

 

"This is an exciting day for the U.S. nuclear industry," Bodman said at the ceremony. "It is an example that if we work together we can advance not only our trade relations but also our common goal of energy security."

 

Asia offers the promise of a bonanza for American companies such as Westinghouse and General Electric Co. which already have a strong presence in the region. Westinghouse has helped build 14 nuclear plants in South Korea and provided technology for almost half of Japan's 55 nuclear units. GE, meanwhile, has helped build 36 reactors in Japan, India and Taiwan.

 

Eighteen reactors about 70 percent of the world's total under construction are going up in Asia, and another 77 are planned or proposed, according to the Nuclear Energy Institute, an industry advocacy group based in Washington, D.C.

 

The deal was signed on the sidelines of a meeting of five major oil importing nations hosted by China.