GE, Hitachi to help tackle Fukushima nuclear crisis

GE and Hitachi vowed to provide long-term assistance to help bring the Fukuishima Daiichi nuclear plant emergency under control.

The two companies, suppliers of reactors at the crisis-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, also offered later clean up the radiation-contaminated site.

Jeffrey Immelt, chairman and chief executive officer of the U.S. conglomerate, and Hitachi President Hiroaki Nakanishi told industry minister Banri Kaieda and Goshi Hosono, a special adviser on the Fukushima crisis to Prime Minister Naoto Kan, that they will team up with other companies around the world that have expertise in handling nuclear accidents to offer support.

Hitachi's Nakanishi said his company and GE, which have a partnership in the nuclear power business, are committed to supporting Tokyo Electric Power Co., the operator of the Fukushima plant, ''as part of our efforts to fulfill responsibility'' as reactor manufacturers.

The troubled Nos. 1-3 reactors at the Fukushima plant run by the utility known as TEPCO were manufactured by GE and Toshiba Corp. Hitachi is a supplier of the No. 4 reactor, which was undergoing regular inspection and not operating when the massive earthquake and tsunami struck the site on March 11.

Immelt also told Kaieda and Hosono that GE will provide gas turbine generators to help Japan tackle the energy supply shortage following the twin disasters that have paralyzed TEPCO's power generation capacity.