Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries aims to win orders for 30 nuclear power plants by 2025, the head of the company's nuclear energy business said on Tuesday.

'We are expecting to receive two orders a year. Considering the potential market size, the target is not pie in the sky and is achievable,' Akira Sawa told Reuters in an interview.

Mitsubishi Heavy is revving up its marketing efforts overseas amid tough competition for the growing number of new nuclear plant projects globally.

There are currently 432 nuclear power plants in operation worldwide and another 140 plants were either under construction or being planned as of January, according to the Japan Atomic Industrial Forum.

Mitsubishi Heavy, whose competitors include the Toshiba-Westinghouse alliance and the Hitachi-General Electric alliance, received its third overseas order in the United States in May.

The Japanese firm is now bidding for a Finnish project and its joint venture with French state-owned energy group Areva is competing with Atomic Energy of Canada and the state-run Russian firm Atomstroyexport in Jordan for the nation's first nuclear plant.-Reuters