CHORLEY, England--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Westinghouse Electric Company President and Chief Executive Officer Danny Roderick met with United Kingdom Prime Minister David Cameron to discuss why Northern England is a good location for inward investment and the role that Westinghouse is already playing and can continue to play in the region’s success.
The meeting, which took place in New York, was organized by UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) and was attended by a number of senior figures from across a range of industries. During the meeting, Danny Roderick and David Cameron were able to discuss the strength of the nuclear sector in Northern England, including Westinghouse’s activities. Westinghouse’s Springfields site was a key player in the developing history of the UK nuclear program, having been the production facility for manufacturing nuclear fuel for nearly 70 years. Westinghouse today employs more than 1,100 people in the region at the Springfields fuel manufacturing site, and at offices in the Preston area and in West Cumbria.
The Northern Powerhouse is a proposal to boost economic growth in the Northern England, with the aim of rebalancing the UK economy away from London and the southeast.
Danny Roderick explained, “Westinghouse recognizes and is committed to supporting the UK Government’s key nuclear policy drivers for security of supply to provide safe and economic low-carbon electricity for years to come, while also contributing to the solution for high hazard risk reduction.
“We offer solutions to many of these challenges, including developing the UK’s nuclear capability in reactor technology through the three AP1000® reactors planned to be built at the Moorside site in West Cumbria, and through the Westinghouse Small Modular Reactor. Building these capabilities will help the UK move from being a buyer or reactor technology to being a provider of reactor technology for global export.
“Westinghouse has also had success in contributing to the high hazard reduction at Sellafield, as we designed and implemented the floating platform that in 2015 pumped the first sludge ever from the First Generation Magnox Storage Ponds – one of the highest hazard facilities in Europe.”
“It is our company’s global nuclear capability, our primary focus on safety and quality, and our commitment to investing in skills that makes Westinghouse confident we have a key role to play in ensuring the success of the nuclear industry in the UK in general and in the Northern Powerhouse specifically,” added Mr. Roderick.
Westinghouse Electric Company, a group company of Toshiba Corporation (TKY:6502), is the world's pioneering nuclear energy company and is a leading supplier of nuclear plant products and technologies to utilities throughout the world. Westinghouse supplied the world's first pressurized water reactor in 1957 in Shippingport, Pa., U.S. Today, Westinghouse technology is the basis for approximately one-half of the world's operating nuclear plants, including more than 50 percent of those in Europe.
