RALEIGH, N.C. - General Electric Co. is considering consolidating its nuclear power business in North Carolina in anticipation that U.S. regulators will allow electric utilities to build a new generation of power plants, a company spokesman said Tuesday.

GE will decide by late summer whether to spend about $40 million to build a facility in Wilmington, where the world's largest industrial conglomerate moved its global nuclear power headquarters two years ago, division spokesman Tom Rumsey said.

"There's every indication from the president on down that we're looking at some new builds in the nuclear industry," Rumsey said. "Wherever we're planted, that's where the hiring will be. ... We're trying to set ourselves so that if and when this growth occurs and we do get orders for new plants, we'll be able to grow."

Moving from three other locations - San Jose, Calif.; Memphis, Tenn.; and Huntersville - and hiring costs in Wilmington could push the price of consolidating to nearly $50 million, Rumsey said. The company is seeking tax breaks and other incentives from state and local governments to cover a good portion of the tab, he said.

"We're not saying, 'Hey governor, give us $50 million.' We're hoping to partner with the state to help drive the economic growth," Rumsey said.

In 2003, GE Nuclear Energy relocated its worldwide headquarters from San Jose to Wilmington, investing $4 million and bringing 200 jobs paying an estimated average salary of $100,000 a year.

Gov. Mike Easley's administration agreed to compensate GE $5.9 million for that move if it maintains jobs there for nine years.

The state Commerce Department, which negotiates business incentives designed to attract businesses to North Carolina, declined to comment on whether it is talking with GE, spokeswoman Alice Garland said.

New Hanover County's board of commissioners approved offering GE $2.1 million over seven years, The Star-News of Wilmington reported last month.

GE's nuclear business is part of the company's energy division, based in Atlanta, which delivered revenues of $17.3 billion last year, or 11 percent of GE's 2004 revenues.

Nuclear power provides about 20 percent of U.S. electricity production, but no new nuclear plants have been ordered since 1978. More than 100 orders for new reactors have been canceled, including all ordered after 1973.

The Bush administration has pushed incentives for building nuclear plants as part of its energy policy, developed in part to combat the rising cost of fossil fuels. Last year, natural gas prices jumped 24 percent, while the price of coal rose 12 percent.

U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said last month the first new nuclear power plant in more than two decades could be completed by 2014 under Bush administration proposals to reduce construction risks and speed licensing.

Consolidation would initially add about 100 jobs to GE's Wilmington nuclear operations, about 80 of them white-collar, Rumsey said.

More than 900 GE workers in Wilmington already service and build nuclear power plants worldwide, as well as manufacture nuclear fuel.

The company also would add about 100 jobs to the 900 workers at a separate aircraft parts manufacturing plant in Wilmington, Rumsey said. About 80 percent of those new positions would be production jobs.