Westinghouse updates: AP1000 potential, IPO, Amentum partnership
Westinghouse's long-term vision for its AP1000 includes seeing up to 91 of its flagship reactors being deployed worldwide, in one of several items of interest announced in recent days by Westinghouse and Cameco, which along with Brookfield Asset Management is part owner of Westinghouse.
AP1000 potential: At Cameco's second-quarter earnings call on Friday, the AP1000 was a focal point in the conversation. The reactor has been in the news several times during the past few years; this summer, for instance, the Department of Energy announced $17.5 billion in American nuclear supply chain loans was available to help finance equipment procurements to build 10 new AP1000 reactors and commence construction by 2030.
Cameco's management's discussion and analysis (MD&A) report highlighted the AP1000 several times. Of note were details from Westinghouse on how its global AP1000 pipeline could support up to 91 reactors providing up to 105 GWe of new nuclear generation, including the following:
- Up to 10 reactors associated with the DOE’s American nuclear supply chain loans.
- Up to 10 reactors through its strategic partnership with the Department of Commerce to support the construction of a new fleet of AP1000 reactors.
- 2 units at V.C. Summer nuclear power plant.
- 3 units at Lubiatowo-Kopalino nuclear power plant in Poland.
- 2 units at Bulgaria’s Kozloduy and two units at Ukraine’s Khmelnytskyi.
- 11 units in the Netherlands, Slovenia, Finland/Sweden, and the United States that fall under the FEED (front-end engineering and design) stage.
The biggest category included up to 51 reactors that were identified as customers “where they are actively considering nuclear deployment options” and “includes monitoring and marketing activities prior to getting to an initial study contract,” according to the MD&A report. These customers were in places including the United States, Canada, India, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, and other European countries.
Dominic Kieran, global managing director of Cameco U.K. and chair of Westinghouse’s Board of Directors, said the customers of the 51 potential reactors in the “origination” stage are considering new nuclear power generation for reasons ranging from carbon-free energy to energy security. He said Westinghouse has “quite a high degree of confidence we will convert a significant number of these opportunities into real projects.”
Commercial operation dates for the 91 potential reactor projects range anywhere from the early 2030s to the early 2040s. As the MD&A report noted, these “projects may not progress through all milestones, and/or may progress at different rates, in addition a project may leave the pipeline at any point.”
IPO plans: Westinghouse also announced Friday that it had confidentially filed for an initial public offering (IPO), having submitted a draft registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Few details on the filing were available, however. The announcement issued by Westinghouse and Cameco states that “the number of shares to be offered and the price range for the proposed offering have not yet been determined, and the proposed offering will be subject to market and other conditions.”
This filing was a topic of great interest in Cameco’s second-quarter earnings call, but Cameco officials provided no new information beyond what was in the earlier release.
“We are extremely limited in what we can say about the offering,” said Cameco CEO Tim Gitzel.
Westinghouse, Amentum partnership: And on Tuesday, Westinghouse and global engineering company Amentum announced they had entered into a series of agreements supporting Westinghouse’s push for AP1000 fleet-scale deployment and the continuing development of its AP300 small modular reactor through its APX technology platform.
“Westinghouse is pursuing a disciplined APX technology strategy built on the proven AP1000 reactor and extended through the AP300 SMR,” said Westinghouse president and CEO Dan Sumner. “We continue to make investments to strengthen our proven APX platform, and our ongoing collaboration with Amentum is expected to accelerate the licensing of the AP300 SMR with the [Nuclear Regulatory Commission]. Separately, our two companies will work together to enhance our engineering and execution capabilities for delivering 1-gigawatt reactors at scale.”
The two have collaborated on multiple nuclear power and decommissioning projects in the United States, United Kingdom, Poland, Slovakia, Lithuania, and South Africa.
