"RWE will participate in projects outside Germany. It depends on financing and on what partner we find. But I think that three to five (projects) are in the pipeline," chief executive Juergen Grossmann told the daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper.

Essen-based RWE was one of "a small handful of power suppliers in Europe with competence in nuclear plants," he said.

Grossmann did not give any indications where these projects would be built.

Nuclear powerhouse

RWE has been operating nuclear stations in Germany since the 1960s. Nuclear power, which accounts for 30 percent of all power in Germany, is currently being phased out. RWE's Biblis plant will be allowed to operate until 2012 and its newest plant in Emsland will have to go offline in about 2020.

RWE, along with its subsidiaries, provides electricity to more than 20 million people and gas to 10 million. Most of its customers are in Europe.

Earlier this month, Bulgaria chose RWE as the winning bidder for 49-percent stake in the Belene Power Company, which will finance and run a four-billion-euro ($5.1-billion) nuclear plant near the northern town of Belene.