Sept. 17 (Bloomberg) -- General Electric Co.'s nuclear venture with Hitachi Ltd. asked the U.K. to temporarily halt the process of assessing the company's latest reactor design and will focus its efforts on getting U.S. approval instead.

GE-Hitachi requested the suspension of the assessment of its so-called Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor and will now focus its resources on a design certification process in the U.S., spokeswoman Elizabeth Kuronen said today by phone from Wilmington, North Carolina.

The U.K.'s Nuclear Installations Inspectorate, the regulator for the industry, has been assessing GE-Hitachi's reactor design alongside the latest designs of Areva SA and Toshiba Corp.'s Westinghouse Electric since July 2007. The government wants new reactors to replace older atomic facilities and coal-fired plants.

``We're still committed to the U.K. market,'' Kuronen said. The company's focus of its engineering design and licensing resources on the design certification process with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission will help provide more detailed documentation for U.K. regulators, she said.

The suspension may last until next year. GE-Hitachi is the second company to ask for a U.K. suspension of the licensing process of new reactors. Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. suspended an application for its latest power-plant design in April.

GE-Hitachi requested the suspension in a letter to U.K. authorities on Sept. 12, Kuronen said. The so-called Generic Design Assessment is carried out by the U.K.'s Health and Safety Executive's NII and the Environment Agency.

Atomic Plants Needed

Mark Wheeler, a spokesman for U.K. Health and Safety Executive confirmed the letter had been received and that it will be discussed with GE-Hitachi.

Utilities in the U.K., Europe's third-biggest electricity market, are considering new atomic units to help replace about a third of the country's power generation by 2020. Nuclear energy, accounting for about a sixth of Britain's electricity generation, emits virtually no carbon dioxide gas, blamed for global warming.

Electricite de France, the world's biggest utility, plans at least four new reactors in the U.K from 2017. The state-owned company is committed to using Areva's latest design.

General Electric is the world's biggest maker of power- generation equipment. The company owns 60 percent of the nuclear venture with Hitachi.

To contact the reporters on this story: Lars Paulsson in London at lpaulsson@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: September 17, 2008 13:16 EDT