Hitachi, Toshiba, Mitsubishi aim to merge nuclear fuel units - source
TOKYO (Reuters) - Hitachi Ltd , Toshiba Corp and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd aim to merge their nuclear fuel businesses, a person with direct knowledge of the talks said, amid bleak prospects for Japan's nuclear reactors to return to operation after the Fukushima disaster.
The three Japanese industrial conglomerates are in talks to merge the fuel operations as early as spring 2017, the source told Reuters on Thursday on condition of anonymity as the talks are not public.
Spokesmen for Hitachi and Mitsubishi Heavy said their companies were each considering various options for their nuclear fuel businesses but that nothing has been decided. Toshiba could not immediately be reached for comment.
(Reporting by Makiko Yamazaki and Kentaro Hamada; Editing by William Mallard)