The Japanese giant ’ s roots date back to 1884 with shipbuilding in Nagasaki . Now responsible for the construction of more than 20 NPPs worldwide , and widely known for its motoring business , MHI has consistently diversified with core business areas spanning energy , infrastructure , technology , transport and aviation .

These are uncertain times for the industry which saw Westinghouse suffer a spectacular fall from grace in 2017 . Its owner Toshiba recently agreed to sell off the US nuclear business for $ 4.6bn . The Japanese conglomerate made the decision after heavy delays to two Westinghouse nuclear projects drove the troubled engineering group to file . On top of the economic fallout and challenging ageing issues , nuclear operators are struggling with low electricity prices and the consistently dropping costs of their main competitors , wind and solar in particular . In countries like the United States , many nuclear power plants have continued to operate only because of massive subsidies . Despite this , the World Nuclear Association notes that , thanks to the planet ’ s voracious appetite for power , 160 power reactors ( with a total gross capacity of some 160,000MWe ) are on order or planned , and over 300 more are proposed .

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