Six Japanese firms have formed a group to beat off competition in the civil nuclear technology sector and sell nuclear-power-plant construction and operation technologies overseas.

Tokyo Electric Power, Chubu Electric Power, Kansai Electric Power, Toshiba Corp, Hitachi and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries have set up a preparatory organisation for this purpose.

The formation of this group will give the Japanese companies an advantage in bidding nuclear-power contracts in the United Arab Emirates, China and especially in Vietnam.

Vietnam offers great potential for the Japanese companies as it has unveiled plans to build 13 nuclear reactors with a combined capacity of 15GW by 2030, reports wsj.com.