Tragedy puts future of GE’s $1 bn nuclear biz at risk

General Electric’s (GE) goal of broadening its $1 billion nuclear service-and-parts business with sales of new reactors risks getting stalled as world leaders reconsider the future of atomic energy.

Governments from Germany, which halted 25% of its nuclear-generated electricity , to India, with $175 billion in planned spending by 2030, are reassessing the technology after Japan’s March 11 earthquake and tsunami crippled a power plant and raised the threat of a meltdown.

Political doubts after the Japan disaster may signal dwindling appetite for new plants, and the reactors that CEO Jeffrey Immelt has said he wants to pursue. Three reactors at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant use a GE design, including the damaged No 1 unit that began operating in 1971.

“We want to look at, just like the whole industry, the details of what happened here,” GE Power & Water CEO Steve Bolze said on Tuesday. “There is going to be a lot of discussion, and we’re part of that process.”

Tokyo Electric Power Co operates and maintains the Dai- Ichi plant complex. Fairfield, Connecticut-based GE operates its nuclear business through a 60-40 venture with Hitachi everywhere except Japan, where Hitachi has 80% ownership. Services and parts produce most of the revenue for GE-Hitachi.

GE’s portion of those sales makes up less than 1% of the parent company’s $150.2 billion in 2010 revenue. A possible loss of sales for GE’s latest reactor design to customers such as India or a drop in revenue from parts and service wouldn’t cause much harm, according to analysts.

It’s the future scope of nuclear power that may be in question, analysts said. About 15% of global electricity comes from nuclear power, according to Londonbased World Nuclear Association.