Sunday, 21 October 2012

Toshiba-Westinghouse Wants out of Nuclear Busines

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.

No comments:

Post a Comment