Germany's two largest utilities, E.ON AG (EOAN.XE) and RWE AG (RWE.XE), said Wednesday they intend to jointly set up a company that will seek to build new nuclear power plants in the U.K.

"The joint venture will aim to develop at least 6 gigawatt of (nuclear) capacity in the U.K.," the companies said in a written statement.

Their U.K. market units, E.ON U.K. and RWE npower, will form a 50-50 joint venture that "will have a long-term focus on seeking to secure sites being sold by the Nuclear Decommissioning Agency."

Both E.ON and RWE repeatedly expressed their interest in participating in the revival of nuclear energy generation in the U.K. and elsewhere in Europe.

Germany, the companies' home market, is in the process to gradually phase-out nuclear energy generation by around 2021, which means that German nuclear power plant operators have to look abroad to pursue nuclear projects if they want to retain the technology as one of their core businesses.

RWE, for instance, is pursuing projects in Bulgaria and Romania.

E.ON is part of the Fennovoima consortium that intends to build a 1.5 gigawatt to 2.5 gigawatt nuclear reactor in Finland.

RWE was understood to have been eyeing U.K. nuclear power plant operator British Energy Group PLC (BGY.LN), although the German utility never officially confirmed its interest.

British Energy last year was eventually taken over by French energy firm Electricite de France (1024251.FR) for GBP12.5 billion.

Both E.ON and RWE have already been actively buying land in the U.K. for possible greenfield nuclear projects.

E.ON has acquired several tracts of privately owned land around an existing nuclear site at Oldbury-on-Severn, north of Bristol, which is an NDA site.

RWE npower last month said it had secured a grid connection and land for a new nuclear power station at Wylfa in Anglesey, Wales.

E.ON and RWE Wednesday said their joint venture "retains an open position on the reactor technology" it may use for individual sites.

E.ON spokesman Christian Drepper added the investment volume for the development of nuclear power plants in the U.K. will depend on the types of land the joint venture will acquire and the reactor technology that will be used.

Company Web site: www.eon.com; www.rwe.com

-By Jan Hromadko, Dow Jones Newswires; +49 69 29 725 503; jan.hromadko@dowjones.com

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