http://leblogdejeudi.wordpress.com/2012/10/06/scoop-toshiba-westinghouse-wants-out-of-nuclear-business/ http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/business/industries/naturalresources/article3557665.ece
This quietly began in July as Toshiba hired JP Morgan to
find a buyer for the Westinghouse nuclear company they now own. The Times UK is
reporting they do not have any potential buyers. October 5th, 2012
According to the Times “Toshiba-Westinghouse wants to quit
the nuclear industry altogether and is struggling to raise finance for the
joint venture.”
Toshiba-Westinghouse
was unable to secure financing for the build at Hinckley Point in the UK. Even their own country’s export bank denied them a loan. “Japan’s
state-controlled export credit agency, JBIC, has refused to underwrite an
estimated £4.3 billion capital raising planned by Toshiba because the country
is also phasing out nuclear power after Fukushima.”
This put Toshiba-Westinghouse out of the running for this
UK project unless they can come up with the funds themselves. The company is
trying to sell off this division, can’t find any buyers and can’t find any
investors. The one reactor currently under construction in the US is an AP1000
reactor, the design Westinghouse owns. This was funded by forcing consumers to
pre-pay for the cost of building the reactor. This highly controversial tactic
is now in the court in FL over a similar program there that is attempting to
raise funds for new reactors and repairs on a current unit.
If Toshiba curtails or ends their nuclear division and
Westinghouse both the US and UK lose one of their approved reactor designs.
They would also lose any support services for existing Westinghouse units.
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