RPT-UPDATE 2-NRG forms new nuclear unit with Toshiba

(Repeats March 25 story for wider readership) (Recasts, adds comment, changes dateline from LOS ANGELES)

HOUSTON, March 25 (Reuters) - Power producer NRG Energy Inc (NRG.N: Quote, Profile, Research) on Tuesday said it formed a new company with Japan's Toshiba Corp (6502.T: Quote, Profile, Research) to develop and build new nuclear energy projects in North America.

Nuclear Innovation North America LLC will focus on marketing, siting and financing new nuclear projects, including the planned South Texas Project units 3 and 4, NRG said.

Toshiba will be the primary contractor on the new company's projects, NRG said in a statement. Toshiba will invest $300 million in the company over the next six years and will receive a 12 percent equity stake.

"At this point, the biggest threat to the nuclear renaissance occurring is that the industry is searching for a contractor with the experience, capability and balance sheet to commit to build these things," NRG Chief Executive David Crane told Reuters. "This signals, in a major way, (Toshiba's) will to build."

Half of Toshiba's investment will support development of the new South Texas Project reactors, expected to cost about $8 billion, and the other half will focus on new projects using the Advanced Boiling Water Reactor (ABWR) technology, NRG said. Toshiba already has built two ABWR units in Japan.

Last year, NRG's filing with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build reactors totaling 2,700 megawatts in South Texas marked the first application to build new units in the United States in nearly three decades.

Six other nuclear license applications for nine reactors have since been filed with the NRC.

Crane said the Toshiba partnership puts the STP expansion "on a clear track to success."