UK to lose new jobs from Westinghouse reactor deal

Thousands of green jobs that were previously planned in the UK could be heading to the US instead. This might happen if Westinghouse, the nuclear firm sold by the UK government to Toshiba three years ago, will select one of its top shareholders as the main contractor to build the next generation of nuclear energy plants.

Westinghouse is expected to announce this week the appointment of its US-based Shaw Group to lead Westinghouse’s £10 billion nuclear reactor project, passing over the deal to earlier favourite engineering company Fluor. The Unite union warned that 10,000 fresh jobs in the country would never be created if Shaw will be chosen.

Several industry analysts said that the US engineering firm is likely to source far more nuclear reactor components from abroad than Fluor. A spokesman from Westinghouse verified that Shaw had been selected, but he declared that at least 80 per cent of the reactor components will be sourced from the UK. He further disclosed that the agreement is not yet finalized as none of the contractor deals had been signed.

In addition to the £10 billion project, Shaw and Westinghouse already had a joint venture to construct reactors in the US and the Middle East. The selection of Shaw was believed to be made in conjunction with several parties, including the Japanese company Toshiba.

Toshiba holds 77 per cent of Westinghouse, with 20 per cent of its stake owned by Shaw. Westinghouse is also planning to secure deals to construct up to four AP1000 reactors with E.ON and RWE npower.