23 November 2009 - Westinghouse is expected to confirm this week that it has appointed US based Shaw Group to head up its GBP10bn ($16.5bn) nuclear programme, passing over the favourite for the contract, rival engineering group Fluor.
Industry sources told The Guardian that Shaw is likely to source far more reactor components from overseas than Fluor, which has close relationships with British manufacturers. British-based manufacturers such as BAE Systems and Rolls Royce are understood to be concerned that lucrative contracts to make reactor modules could be lost to Shaw's manufacturing bases in the US and Belgium.
A spokesman for Westinghouse in the US confirmed that Shaw had been appointed but claimed that "up to 80 per cent" of the components would be sourced from the UK. He admitted that this was not finalized as none of the supplier contracts had been signed.
He added that Shaw had teamed up with British construction firm Laing O'Rourke for the bid, but the firm will not be involved in providing any of the high specification reactor components.
Japanese firm Toshiba owns 77 per cent of Westinghouse, with 20 per cent owned by Shaw Group. Westinghouse is hoping to secure contracts to build at least four of its AP1000 reactors with E.ON and RWE npower, who have formed a nuclear joint venture in the UK, soon after Christmas.
It was also claimed by several industry sources that Westinghouse had initially recommended to Toshiba that Fluor be appointed, but that the parent company insisted that Shaw be chosen instead. A Westinghouse spokesman in the US said that Shaw and Westinghouse already had a partnership to build reactors in the Middle East and the US.
"It was a decision made in conjunction with a number of parties, including our parent company Toshiba," he said. "It's our intention to use British labour as much as possible."
Rival French reactor firm Areva is building the rest of the UK's reactors, on behalf of EDF Energy, and has only promised to allow British firms to bid for up to 70 per cent of the supply contracts.