Westinghouse strikes reactor agreement
WESTINGHOUSE, the Lancashire-based nuclear reactor builder, said it has signed an agreement with the company planning to build a new power station on Anglesey.
Westinghouse, which makes nuclear fuel near Preston and has an office in Chorley, is vying to build reactors for the UK’s new nuclear programme.
It has agreed to work closely with Horizon Nuclear Power – a joint venture between RWE Npower and E.on – on preparatory design studies for a planned nuclear plant at Wylfa, Anglesey. But it is competing against an alternative – the European Pressurized Reactor built by the French company Areva.
Westinghouse has teamed up with builder Laing O’Rourke, engineering firm Shaw Group and Toshiba under the ‘Nuclear Power Delivery UK’ banner to supply its AP1000TM reactor.
Nuclear Power’s managing director Dr Rita Bowser, said: “We are working closely with Horizon to ensure we make them the best possible proposal in terms of the AP1000 design, and we are preparing for success so that we are well positioned to move quickly if we are selected as their preferred choice around the end of 2010.”
Horizon plans to submit a planning application for the new power station in 2012. It will be located next to an existing nuclear plant which will be closed at the end of the year.
Once operational a new plant could provide 3,000 megawatts of power, three times the amount currently provided at Wylfa, and would employ 800 permanent staff.
