NEW YORK: General Electric and Hitachi have announced a joint nuclear business to capitalize on rising demand for electricity and increasing concerns about carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired plants.

John Krenicki, president and chief executive of GE Energy, said at a news conference Monday that nuclear plants produce virtually no carbon gases and reactors can take the place of aging power plants that rely on fossil fuels.

“We believe nuclear is going to step in, and were getting ready to execute that plan,” he said.

Customers seeking fuel diversity to avoid relying on oil and coal are helping to rebuild a market for nuclear energy that faltered in the 1970s as safety worries mounted. And nuclear energy could become more attractive in the United States if the U.S. Congress and state legislatures eventually impose a carbon tax to discourage carbon-producing plants, Krenicki said.

The GE-Hitachi alliance plans to spend between $350 million and $400 million for nuclear plant designs and certification. The designs, which have been in the works for about 11 years, are expected to be completed by 2010, Andy White, chief executive of GE Energy Nuclear, said.

Except for Japan, the business that will operate is 60 percent owned by GE and 40 percent by Hitachi. In Japan, the business will be about 80 percent owned by Hitachi and approximately 20 percent by GE.

GE and Hitachi, which agreed last November to establish the venture, say they are combining their nuclear businesses to provide advanced boiling water reactor plants and related services.

To avoid ceding business to competitors, the two companies also will offer equipment and services for a separate nuclear plant technology known as pressurized water reactors.

“We are coming together at the right time, at the right place and in the right circumstances,” Masaharu Hanyu, president of Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy, said.

The two companies have worked together since the 1980s to develop reactors in Asia. GE brings to the partnership its expertise in designing boiling water reactor plants and Hitachis strengths are in manufacturing reactor components and construction methods, White said.

GE officials said polls show public support for construction of nuclear plants, though Jeffrey Immelt, chief executive of General Electric, cautioned that broad acceptance of nuclear energy may take time.

“Weve been in this business for 50 years. Were not naпve about how this changes over time,” he said. “I would say its hard to believe simultaneously in energy security and reduction in greenhouse gases” without nuclear power. “Its just intellectually dishonest.”

The United States gets about 20 percent of its electricity from nuclear reactors.

Construction of plants in the GE-Hitachi deal will be slow because of the time required for design, licensing and approval of nuclear plants.

White said GE-Hitachi is hoping to get two or three orders a year in the United States and one or two overseas. The first plants are expected to come on line in 2015 or later, he said.

SIR Bobby Charlton has spoken for the first time about the bitter feud that continues to rumble between himself and his brother Jack.

The pair barely speak more than a decade after Jack publicly criticised the former Manchester United star for refusing to see their mother Cissie on her death bed. At the time he said it was because of a row between Cissie and Sir Bobby’s wife Norma.

Sir Bobby, a 2012 Olympics ambassador, said: “My wife is a very strong character and does not suffer fools gladly. I am not saying my mother was a fool. There was a clash and it just never went away really.

“[Jack] came out in the newspapers saying things about my wife that were absolutely disgraceful. Nonsense. Ask anybody that ever met my wife: ‘hoity-toity’ is not a word they’d use.

“My brother made a big mistake, I don’t understand why he did it. He couldn’t possibly have known her and said what he said. I was astonished.”

Jack’s comments in 1996 led to a confrontation between the siblings. “He wouldn’t back down,” Sir Bobby said. “I wanted him to explain.”

Now the brothers do not meet, even at Christmas, except at an annual reunion of England’s 1966 World Cup-winning players.

Sir Bobby said: “If I see him, I speak to him. We go to the reunions and we’ll talk. I don’t think anybody should feel sad about it. He’s a big lad, I’m a big lad and you move on. I’m not going to ruin the rest of my life worrying about my brother and I’ve no doubt he’s the same. If we see each other we say hello. I’m sorry it happened, but life goes on.”

In 1996 Jack, former Republic of Ireland manager, said of Bobby: “Mother adored him and towards the end was desperate to see him. She couldn’t understand why he wouldn’t come. My other two brothers, Gordon and Tommy, visited her regularly, but not Robert. I just don’t want to know him.”

Nearly 1 in 3 flights arriving at San Francisco International Airport in July was late, part of a nationwide trend of deteriorating on-time performance for airlines, according to a new federal report.

A total of 31.6 percent of arriving flights at SFO in July landed after their scheduled touch-down times, the U.S. Department of Transportation said. In July 2006, the total was 22 percent, the agency said.

The number of late-arriving planes was also higher this July at Oakland International Airport and Mineta San Jose International Airport, according to the new report. At San Jose, 20 percent of planes were late, one percentage point higher than a year earlier. At Oakland, the total was 22 percent, three percentage points worse than in July 2006.

Nationally, 27.7 percent of flights were late arriving in July, up from 24.2 percent in July 2006.

On-time departures at all three Bay Area airports were also down in July from a year ago, according to the report. At San Francisco, 25.8 percent of takeoffs were late, nearly five percentage points worse than in July 2006. At Oakland the total was 22.2 percent, compared with 19.3 percent in July 2006, and at San Jose the total was 16.1 percent, less than half a percentage point worse than the year before.

The national norm for departure delays was 24.8 percent in July, according to the report, compared with 22.3 percent a year ago.

Nationally, the number of on-time arrivals and departures has steadily worsened in the last six years, according to the Transportation Department.

Aviation experts had predicted a difficult summer for airlines and passengers, saying that an increased numbers of travelers, decreased airline staff and an overextended air traffic control system would lead to more delays.

Airlines said nearly 1 in 10 of their flights were tardy in July because the planes needed for the routes were already late. “Aviation system delays” resulted in 8.4 percent of flights running late, and issues such as maintenance or crew problems delayed 8 percent of all flights.

Ian Gregor, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration, said the federal government’s air-traffic control system is especially to blame. He said the current radar system is obsolete compared with a satellite system that the FAA wants and is being funded - slowly - by taxes on airline tickets.

“The FAA is using a system that’s extremely safe, but not particularly efficient,” Gregor said.

Gregor said, “Radar gives you a good idea of where an aircraft is, but not a precise idea. As a result, we build rather large ’safety bubbles’ around each airplane. We require that aircraft at high altitudes be separate by at least 5 miles. With satellite, you’re going to know exactly where aircraft are located, and that gives us the potential to reduce spacing.”

Among airlines, the worst for on-time performance nationwide in July was Atlantic Southeast Airlines, whose flights were late 54.2 percent of the time, the Transportation Department said. Delta’s Comair had the highest rate of canceled flights (5.4 percent), while Frontier had the lowest (0.1 percent).

Hawaiian Airlines had the best on-time performance for the month, with 94.7 percent of its flights arriving on schedule, the report said. Online resources

To read the report

links.sfgate.com/ZSY

Flying late

Late arrivals and departures at the Bay Area’s airports in July: Arrivals
Airport 2007 2006
San Francisco 31.6% 22.0%
Oakland 22.0 19.1
San Jose 20.0 19.0
Departures
Airport 2007 2006
San Francisco 25.8% 21.1%
Oakland 22.2 19.3
San Jose 16.1 15.8

Source: U.S. Department of Transportation

E-mail Jonathan Curiel at jcuriel@sfchronicle.com.