Nuclear industry does not fear competition from gas

By Anna Stablum

LONDON, Sept 7 (Reuters) - The nuclear power industry in the United States will stay cost competitive against natural gas as long as gas prices stay above $3 per million British thermal units, senior nuclear officials told a conference this week.

"Gas in $3 to 4 per million BTU (British thermal units) is probably a market when we start to compete," President and CEO Steve Tritch at Westinghouse Electric told the World Nuclear Association's annual Symposium.

Today 16 percent of global energy supply comes from nuclear power, but with world demand for electricity expected to double by 2030, energy from nuclear as well as other sources would have to increase, Tritch told the London audience.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, October natural gas NGV7 traded at $5.54 per million BTU on Friday.

Henry Hub natural gas futures NGc1 have held above $5 all year, according to Reuters data.

"If we look at some of the recent prices of gas we feel our plants will be extremely competitive," Tritch said.

Westinghouse Electric, mainly owned by Japan's Toshiba Corporation (6502.T), supplies fuel as well as building reactors. Its technology is found in 60 percent of U.S. nuclear power plants.

Westinghouse has operations in 12 states and 14 countries with annual sales of approximately $1.8 billion.