By encouraging joint projects with US firms, Japan hopes to retain its competitive edge in nuclear-related technology and maintain its trained engineers, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun said.

Given that only four plants are now under construction at home, Tokyo believes entering the overseas market is critical to preserving Japan's technological expertise, at least until the 2020s, when existing domestic facilities will require upgrading, the business daily said.

Japan's move will come following Washington's announcement that it planned to resume building nuclear power facilities for the first time in nearly three decades as a way to reduce the nation's reliance on Middle Eastern oil and to increase the use of alternative energy, the Nihon Keizai said.

Following the 1979 accident at Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania, the United States froze nuclear power plant construction, and US manufacturers such as General Electric Co. have not been able to uphold their technological expertise in nuclear technology, the newspaper said.

Meanwhile, major Japanese nuclear plant engineers such as Toshiba Corp., Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. and Hitachi Ltd. have acquired nuclear technologies from GE, Westinghouse Electric Co. and other US companies, the Nihon Keizai said.

The Japanese firms have built many nuclear plants at home and now boast top-level engineering technologies for nuclear reactor pressure vessels and steam generators, it said.

Japan formed a council tasked with creating a research and financial structure that will facilitate exports of nuclear-related equipment, the Nihon Keizai said.

Some companies are already preparing for the restart of US nuclear plant construction, with Toshiba and GE launching a joint study to analyze the feasibility of planned projects, the newspaper said.

All rights reserved. � 2004 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.

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