Toshiba U.S. nuclear business loss may be as much as $6.1 billion - Kyodo

TOKYO (Reuters) - Toshiba Corp could post a 700 billion yen ($6.1 billion) loss at its U.S. nuclear reactor business, much bigger than the 500 billion yen it had earlier flagged to investors, Kyodo news agency reported.

Shares in Toshiba plunged 15 percent on reports of bigger than expected losses, which come one day after it said it was considering a spin-off of its chip business to cover financial shortfalls.

Toshiba declined to comment on the reports.

The conglomerate in December revealed cost overruns at the U.S. nuclear business raising concerns that a writedown could wipe out shareholders' equity that had declined sharply following a $1.3 billion accounting scandal in 2015.

That scandal had put it on a Tokyo Stock Exchange watchlist, barring it from issuing new shares that could buttress its finances.

Analysts and investors have expected a spin-off and a part-sale of the profitable chips business to be part of any solution.

The company wants to sell a minority stake in its core semiconductor business and is considering potential buyers including U.S. partner Western Digital Corp, a source has said.

Shareholder equity, which represents its accumulated reserves, stood at 363.2 billion yen at the end of September, already just 7.5 percent of total assets.

($1 = 114.5800 yen)

(Reporting by Tim Kelly; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)