Brookfield's Westinghouse Acquisition Breathes Life Into India Project

Westinghouse Electric and Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) are finalizing an agreement to set up six nuclear reactors in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh. This would be India’s first non-Russian Light Water Reactor-based nuclear project to be set up with foreign collaboration.

New Delhi (Sputnik) — The $4.6-billion acquisition of Westinghouse Electric Co. by Brookfield Business Partners LP has come just in time for India, which has decided to push ahead with its planned collaboration with the formerly Toshiba-owned company, for the construction of six nuclear reactors.

"Brookfield's acquisition of Westinghouse reaffirms our position as the leader of the global nuclear industry," Westinghouse President and CEO Jose Emeterio Gutierrez said on Friday.

"Our transformation and strategic restructuring process is creating a stronger, stable, and more streamlined global Westinghouse business, for the benefit of our customers and employees," he added.

Only a day before, India's Minister of Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh had informed the Parliament about the government's decision to go ahead with the proposed deal despite the uncertainty surrounding the ownership of Westinghouse that filed for bankruptcy last year following the Japanese Toshiba Corporation's decision to pull out of the nuclear power plant sector.

"Presently, discussions with Westinghouse Electric Company is in progress to arrive at a viable project proposal for setting up six nuclear power reactors," Minister of Atomic Energy and Space, Dr. Jitendra Singh said in Parliament.

The decision was based solely on the assurances given by the US administration that Westinghouse would be back in business in the beginning of 2018.

"The US has assured India that Westinghouse will be back in business from the New Year, therefore Westinghouse and NPCIL are negotiating the final nitty-gritty of the proposal," government sources told Sputnik.

The project is planned to be set up in Kovvada, in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, and comprises six units of 1208 MW each. The cost and schedule of the project will emerge upon finalization of the project proposal, and accord of its administrative approval and financial sanction by the Government of India.

India and the US announced the proposed deal between Westinghouse and state-owned NPCIL for the construction of six AP 1000 reactors in Andhra Pradesh in 2016, but following the Toshiba Corporation's decision to pull out of the nuclear power plant sector, Westinghouse Electric Company's India plan had run into uncertainty.