SCOTTISH firms in fields such as engineering could be given a trading boost after a Japanese corporation's move to breathe fresh life into plans to build new nuclear power stations south of the Border.
Peter Hughes, chief executive of Scottish Engineering, said sector players could be big beneficiaries of Hitachi's £700 million deal to take over the Horizon project to build up to six plants for German utilities E.ON and RWE.
"There's a lot of work in there that could possibly come to Scottish companies," Mr Hughes told The Herald.
Mr Hughes included Glasgow-based Weir Group and Clyde Union Pumps among Scottish engineering firms with the skills to compete for work connected with the plants Hitachi expects to build, in Gloucestershire and on Anglesey in Wales.
Babcock International and Rolls-Royce, which have big operations in Scotland, have signed memoranda of understanding to join Hitachi to deliver the programme.
Mr Hughes renewed calls for the Government to abandon its opposition to the building of new nuclear facilities in Scotland, saying Scotland needs a balance of generating sources.
Hitachi expects the first 1300 megawatt plant to be running by the mid-2020s.
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