The US-based nuclear energy company Westinghouse, which yesterday confirmed it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, has reached an agreement with each owner of the US AP1000 reactor projects to continue work on the units during an initial assessment period, the company said in a statement on 29 March 2017. There are two AP1000 units under construction at the Summer nuclear power station in South Carolina and two at the Vogtle station in Georgia. The Summer units are being built by South Carolina Electric & Gas and Santee Cooper, and the Vogtle units by Georgia Power, a subsidiary of Southern Company. Georgia Power said in a statement on 29 March 2017 that it and co-owners had been preparing for the possibility of a Westinghouse bankruptcy. The Vogtle owners are conducting a review of the cost to complete the nuclear units being built by Westinghouse and to determine the impact of the bankruptcy on the project, the statement said. Westinghouse said it remains committed to its AP1000 technology and will continue its existing projects in China as well as pursuit of other potential projects. There are four AP1000 reactors under construction in China, two each at the Sanmen and Haiyang nuclear sites. Westinghouse said operations in its Asia and Europe, the Middle East and Africa regions are not affected by the bankruptcy filings. Westinghouse said it is seeking to restructure as a result of “certain financial and construction challenges” in its US AP1000 projects. The company said it has obtained $800m (€745m) in financing from a third-party lender to help fund and protect its core businesses during its reorganisation.
Nucnet 30th March 2017 read more »
With Toshiba’s Westinghouse subsidiary filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the US taxpayer could end up losing billions due to the Federal loan guarantees facilitated by a Republican Congress in 2005, and handed over by Obama, and the head of the US Dept of Energy, Ernst Moniz. Obama was apparently owned by the nuclear industry, especially Exelon, and the wife of Moniz has Japanese roots. Ratepayers have been, and will be, scammed, as well. The chance of losing the taxpayer money was known to be in the range of 40 to 50% based on history, but it’s not their money so they didn’t care. The Federal loan guarantee was given well after the Fukushima disaster and well after it was known that a nuclear project in Taiwan, involving Toshiba, was years behind and billions over cost. The only bigger scam was Obama spending approximately $2 billion per year of taxpayer money to import foreign nuclear waste to be dumped in the US, while pretending it was about nuclear nonproliferation. That cost will be never-ending due to the nature of nuclear waste.
Mining Awareness 30th March 2017 read more »
News that one of the world’s biggest nuclear power constructors, Westinghouse, has filed for bankruptcy in with debts of over $10 billion has put the entire sector on notice and issued a dire warning to nuclear investors everywhere, writes Jim Green. Among the likely casualties: the UK’s Moorside nuclear complex in Cumbria.
Ecologist 30th March 2017 read more »