Westinghouse sale signals arrival of a new nuclear age
- Reference: 1665594910
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/10/12/westinghouse_sale_nuclear/
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The deal will cost the pair (and Brookfield Renewable's unnamed institutional partners) $7.85 billion, including $4.5 billion in equity and the remainder in assuming the company's debts. Westinghouse president and CEO Patrick Fragman says the agreement kickstarts a new chapter, not only for Westinghouse Electric Company, but for nuclear power as well.
"We are proud to join Brookfield Renewable and Cameco, reaffirming the important role played by Westinghouse and nuclear power in enabling the world's clean energy transition and energy security goals," Fragman [1]said in a statement.
NASA wants nuclear reactor on the Moon by 2030 [2]READ MORE
Nuclear power appears to be entering a renaissance phase. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), nuclear power generation needs to more than double by 2050 to help the world meet global warming reduction goals.
The IEA isn't the only group embracing nuclear power – Japan recently [3]reversed its ban on nuclear power after the Fukushima meltdown 11 years ago, clearing the way for shuttered plants to reopen and new ones to be constructed.
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Environmental responsibility aside, Cameco CEO and president Tim Gitzel [5]said that there's never been a better time to get into nuclear, though keep in mind that his organization manufactures uranium fuel for such facilities.
[6]
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"We're witnessing some of the best market fundamentals we've ever seen in the nuclear energy sector. [It is] becoming increasingly important in a world that prioritizes electrification, decarbonization and energy security," Gitzel said.
Cameco and Brookfield Renewable also talked up the construction of utility-scale and modular nuclear power generators. Smaller reactors are being developed, including a molten salt reactor that can [8]fit on the back of a flatbed semi trailer, or more traditional [9]small modular water reactors .
[10]Micro molten salt reactor can fit on a truck, power 1k homes. When it's built
[11]UK politico proposes site for prototype nuclear fusion plant
[12]Japan taps industry to build safer, more secure nuclear energy future
[13]South Korea takes massive step toward sustainable nuclear fusion reactions
It's unknown in which direction Cameco and Brookfield plan to take Westinghouse, though the pair did say they were well positioned to "execute on the growing pipeline for extending and uprating nuclear power plants, and service the rising demand" for new [14]smaller reactors – no mention of the type.
Westinghouse Electric Company is currently owned by Brookfield Business Partners, a subsidiary of Brookfield Renewable under parent company Brookfield Asset Management.
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Brookfield Business purchased Westinghouse Electric Company [16]from Toshiba in 2018 after the latter placed Westinghouse in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in a bid to restructure it. Brookfield [17]said that its management of Westinghouse nearly doubled the company's profitability through restructuring and a refocus of its services.
Westinghouse Electric Company is also independent of Westinghouse Electric Corporation, from which it was [18]spun off in 1999 after Westinghouse (then known as CBS Corp) merged with Viacom and sought to get rid of the last of its industrial enterprises.
The deal is still being negotiated and isn't expected to close until the second half of 2023. ®
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[1] https://info.westinghousenuclear.com/news/cameco-brookfield-renewable-acquire-westinghouse
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/24/nasa_nuclear_power_moon/
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2022/08/24/japan_reverses_course_on_postfukushima/
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Y0c4@H8NhewiWC81rTpjNwAAAMM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.cameco.com/media/news/cameco-and-brookfield-renewable-form-strategic-partnership-to-acquire-westi
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Y0c4@H8NhewiWC81rTpjNwAAAMM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Y0c4@H8NhewiWC81rTpjNwAAAMM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2022/10/05/micro_molten_salt_reactor/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/02/nuclear_reactors_waste/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2022/10/05/micro_molten_salt_reactor/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2022/10/05/reesmogg_proposes_site_for_prototype/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/29/mitsubishi_heavy_safer_nuclear_reactor/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/08/korea_sustained_fusion/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2022/08/02/small_modular_nuclear_reactors_approved/
[15] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Y0c4@H8NhewiWC81rTpjNwAAAMM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2017/03/27/westinghouse_electric_enters_chapter_11/
[17] https://bbu.brookfield.com/press-releases/bbu/brookfield-business-partners-reaches-agreement-sell-westinghouse
[18] https://www.nytimes.com/1998/06/27/business/cbs-to-sell-westinghouse-nuclear-units-for-238-million-and-debts.html
[19] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Well, [1]even Greta Thunberg is now cool with them but I think they should start working on the newer types. They're a lot cheaper, less risky and far quicker to produce.
[1] https://news.yahoo.com/greta-thunberg-says-burning-coal-184310756.html
Nuclear power is neither clean nor safe
Perhaps if the nuclear pollution industry fully cleaned up Fukushima and Chernobyl and Sellafield FIRST it might be able to show its dirty face in polite company again. Instead it is dumping its filth into the oceans (Fukushima) or just leaving it where it is (Chernobyl and its 1000 square miles of evacuated land) or taking an indeterminate length of time (Sellafield) to clean up.
And who is footing the bill for this? Tax payers. Tax payers are on the hook for decades, while in slides this private investment company to take some profits. It's capitalism spelled "fraud" - privatise the profits and socialise the costs.
I would not like to see another nuclear *event* but I expect it will come round again sooner or later. And we will be told the same old crap as always. It couldn't happen now. It was an old design. This is another of the not-one-off one offs. Then the nuclear industry will lay low for a time, maybe five years while their pollution is still fresh in the minds of the whole world, then out they will come again, sprouting up like the poisonous fungi they are. They will find some reason. Climate change, energy security, whatever. But it will all be about grabbing money for a few people and shovelling the crap onto the heads of everybody else.
Nuclear power is also unaffordable without guaranteed prices - AKA taxation. They overrun costs (to be born by the tax payer one way or another). They take years to build. Everything about nuclear is rotten from start to finish.
Re: Nuclear power is neither clean nor safe
Ah yes, the well-known monument to the decadence of capitalism that is the Vladimir Ilyich Lenin Nuclear Power Plant.
Windscale, too. Because private capital was definitely the driving force behind the production of large amounts of weapons grade plutonium.
Re: Nuclear power is neither clean nor safe
This message sponsored by the National Coal Board
Westinghouse
Owned for a long time by the state-controlled British Nuclear Fuels. It was sold to Toshiba in 2005 for about £5 billion.
Odd Phrasing
This article, and several others I have read lately all use the phrase "entering a renaissance phase." but then the details sound more like "taking fresh baby steps" to me.
Maybe it is just copied from the press release.
If they were to simply get on with the job of refurbishing and extending existing plant lifetimes for another 20-25 years that in itself would be a very good thing.
Is it too late for Germany's shuttered plants?