Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., Japan's largest maker of industrial machinery, will team up with Areva SA of France in supplying nuclear fuel as part of efforts to expand its atomic energy business, the two companies said Friday.
Areva Chief Executive Officer Anne Lauvergeon and Mitsubishi Heavy Chairman Kazuo Tsukuda signed an initial agreement in Tokyo, the companies said in a joint statement. They aim to start the joint business to sell atomic fuel and recycled fuel by the end of 2008.
The two will discuss a "potential investment" by the Japanese company in Areva's fuel-fabrication facility in the United States, the statement said.