GE offers help over its failing Fukushima reactors

Technology giant General Electric, which built the reactors at Fukushima that are now failing, is to donate £3m to the relief efforts in Japan and offer nuclear technical assistance to […]

Technology giant General Electric, which built the reactors at Fukushima that are now failing, is to donate £3m to the relief efforts in Japan and offer nuclear technical assistance to the country’s power industry.

In 2007, GE merged its Japanese nuclear interests with Hitachi, and today GE chairman Jeffrey Immelt said the company would be working with its joint venture partner on the future safety of the country’s reactors.

At a news conference he added: “Over the coming weeks and months, we will be doing whatever we can do to help with the energy needs of Japan.”

In the UK, GE is a growing player in the renewables market, with a particular focus on the manufacture of wind turbines.

This month it also unveiled a strategic partnership with construction company Skanska to refurbish buildings “through new green technologies and processes”.

The alliance is to retrofit homes and buildings to increase their energy, carbon and water efficiency, with the aim of making them a showcase for the next generation of green refurbishment.

GE UK’s president Mark Elborne said: “Both Skanska and GE are leading the way in their development of green solutions and technologies for the built environment. By combining forces we can offer a more attractive, practical and tangible proposition to future proof the UK’s existing building stock and deliver value to clients.”

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