Westinghouse Electric Company LLC is an American nuclear power company formed in 1999 from the nuclear power division of the original Westinghouse Electric Corporation.[3] It offers nuclear products and services to utilities internationally, including nuclear fuel, service and maintenance, instrumentation, control and design of nuclear power plants. Westinghouse's world headquarters are located in the Pittsburgh suburb of Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania.
The company's main product is the AP1000, a modern pressurized water reactor (PWR) design with many passive safety features and modular construction intended to lower construction time and cost. Twelve AP1000 reactors are currently in operation with a further nineteen in various stages of planning.
The company was initially formed as CBS Corporation spun off the remaining pieces of Westinghouse's industrial concerns, as part of Westinghouse's re-creation as a media company. Portions of their nuclear business were initially purchased by Siemens in 1998 before the remaining parts were purchased by British Nuclear Fuels Limited (BNFL) in 1999 and formed up as Westinghouse Electric. In 2005, BNFL sold the company to Toshiba.
The company went bankrupt in 2017 primarily due to ongoing cost overruns at the Vogtle Electric Generating Plant and Virgil C. Summer Nuclear Generating Station expansions, the first US builds of the company's AP1000 design. It emerged from bankruptcy after being purchased by Brookfield Business Partners, a Canadian private equity fund. They sold it to a consortium of Brookfield Renewable Partners and Cameco, a Canadian nuclear fuel and services company. Renewable Partners is the current majority owner of Westinghouse.
History
Westinghouse Electric Company was formed in 1999, after the original company with that name, George Westinghouse's Westinghouse Electric, founded in 1886, ceased to exist due to a series of divestitures and mergers through the mid-to-late 1990s. These included Westinghouse Electric's purchase of CBS in 1995, expansion into communications and broadcasting, and the selling off of most non-broadcast operations by 1998, renaming itself CBS Corporation.
In 1998, the Westinghouse Power Generation Business unit was sold to Siemens of Germany. In 1999, CBS Corporation sold its nuclear business (Westinghouse Electric Company) to British Nuclear Fuels Limited (BNFL)[4] and a year later CBS Corporation was merged into Viacom (1971–2005), putting an end to the original Westinghouse. Legally, Westinghouse Electric Corporation still exists, mainly for the purpose of licensing, as a subsidiary of CBS Corporation.
Sale to Toshiba
Association with Paramount Skydance
Although no longer associated with CBS Corporation (later Paramount Global and now Paramount Skydance), Westinghouse Electric Company LLC has for some years used the trademarks owned by Westinghouse Electric Corporation,[55] by then Viacom/CBS Corporation/ViacomCBS' brand management subsidiary, under license, as is the case with other Westinghouse licensees. In 2021, ViacomCBS sold the Westinghouse licensing operation (including trademarks) directly to the now-independent Westinghouse Electric Corporation.[56]
New generation of reactors
A revived interest in the nuclear power generation field in the late 1980s led to Westinghouse's development of the AP600 reactor which received NRC approval. Interest in the Westinghouse design, but with larger power output led to the change of the project to the AP1000 in 1999 and shortly after became the first Generation III+ reactor to receive final design approval from the NRC in 2004.[57] As of 2014, four of these units are under construction in China, though the first was due to come on-line in November 2013.[58] and has been delayed until December 2014.
The delay due to the constantly changing, and consequently untested, design prompted Li Yulun, former vice-president of China National Nuclear Corporation, in 2013 to raise concerns over the safety standards of the plant. Citing a lack of operating history, he questioned the manufacturer's assertion that the AP1000 reactor's "primary system canned motor pumps" were "maintenance-free" over 60 years, the assumed life of the reactor, and noted that Westinghouse had yet to receive approval from British authorities on an improved version of AP1000.[59] As of 2019 all four AP1000 reactors in China are operating.
As of January 2009, six AP1000 plants had been ordered in the US, and several other customers had chosen the AP1000, if they were to build new nuclear plants, for a combined total of at least 14 new plants, announced by the NuStart Consortium, Duke Power, Progress Energy, Southern Nuclear and SCE&G.
International business
Europe
Westinghouse Electric Company fully owns several subsidiaries in Europe, such as the European Service Center, also called Westinghouse Electric Belgium located in Nivelles, Belgium, where equipment is prepared for projects throughout Europe. After Westinghouse's 1990 takeover of ABB Reaktor in Germany, it transferred radiological storage activities located in Ladenburg, Germany, to consolidate in Nivelles, which had to be extended. Soon afterwards another expansion was necessary as employees in the Brussels office were transferred to Nivelles. It was estimated that 200 people were working in Nivelles at the end of 2011.
In 2001, Westinghouse took over Logitest in Les Ulis, France, one of 3 companies qualified to inspect nuclear steam generator plants for Électricité de France.[66] After the French nuclear market partially opened in 2004 to suppliers from outside the country to fulfill European Commission directives regarding international competition, Westinghouse started to expand its business in France with a Westinghouse team located in Metz in charge of repair, replacement and automation services. By 2005, Westinghouse had 160 employees in France and two-thirds of Westinghouse's business in France was fuel supply.[67]
See also
External links
References
- Westinghouse Electric Company's Leadership retrieved 2020-03-22^
- Westinghouse Locations retrieved 2025-05-11^
- Division of Corporations - Filing icis.corp.delaware.gov^