A consortium led by the two firms has filed with the US Department of Energy for permission to conduct a feasibility study for construction of advanced nuclear reactors, the business daily said.

Among other members of the consortium are the Tennessee Valley Authority, major contractor Bechtel Corp., enriched uranium fuel supplier USEC Inc. and Global Nuclear Fuel Americas LLC, a joint venture by GE, Toshiba and Hitachi Ltd.

The move follows the decision by the administration of US President George W. Bush to support construction of nuclear power plants, the newspaper said.

Washington had suspended nuclear power plant construction since a major accident at Three Mile Island in 1979.

Upon obtaining government permission, the firms will begin a feasibility study for installing in Alabama an advanced boiling water reactor with an output of over one million kilowatts, the daily said.

Total construction costs are estimated at more than three billion dollars.

The partnership in the consortium might pave the way for closer collaborations between Japanese and American firms in nuclear technology, the newspaper said.

Japanese manufacturers used to rely on nuclear power plant technology developed by GE and Westinghouse Electric Co.

But since there has long been no construction of nuclear power plants in the United States, Japanese firms are now said to have a technological edge over their American counterparts, Nihon Keizai said.

Toshiba is separately trying to join a US project to produce a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor, which is likely to become mainstream among nuclear reactors in the future, it said.

The project has been conducted by Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, it added.

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