Japan's Hitachi Ltd remains in talks with Lithuania over its plans to build a nuclear plant after the European country's new centre-left government said it could shelve nuclear projects, the company's top executive said on Tuesday. Hitachi, a century-old conglomerate that designs and builds nuclear power plants with General Electric Co in two joint ventures, has shifted its focus overseas as Japan shuns nuclear energy in the wake of the worst radiation crisis in 25 years at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant last year.

Hitachi's nuclear joint venture had been lined up to supply a nuclear energy plant to Lithuania under the country's previous government, which lost power in October. Nakanishi said he did not think the world-wide market for nuclear energy would shrink, but said it was impossible to form a sales outlook for Hitachi's nuclear business before Japan's own energy policy has been concluded.

Copyright Reuters, 2012