Toshiba’s U.S. atomic unit files for bankruptcy protection

The utilities building a new nuclear power plant in SC, however, said they hope to complete the $14 billion project despite Westinghouse’s bankruptcy filing.

Georgia Public Service Commissioner Stan Wise says they’ve known about the move for the last week or so. Bankruptcy will allow Westinghouse to renegotiate or even break construction contracts. With a 3.4GW net output capacity, it would become the UK’s biggest nuclear power station, delivering enough electricity to power approximately six million homes.

In a widely expected move, Westinghouse Electric Co., the USA nuclear unit of Japan’s Toshiba Corp., on Wednesday filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in NY, in a bid to restructure after huge losses at some of its nuclear projects under construction.

Westinghouse also said it had obtained $800 million in financing to sustain operations during the bankruptcy reorganization.

Westinghouse Electric Company, which helped drive the development of nuclear energy and the electric grid itself, was done in mostly by self-inflicted injuries, including a disastrous deal for a construction business that was meant to control costs and instead precipitated the events that led to the filing on Wednesday.

Its parent company Toshiba has said it will no longer take on new reactor construction projects and will focus on maintaining the reactors it already has, according to the Associated Press.

Westinghouse Electric Co.’s decision to file bankruptcy has global ramifications, but locally the greatest impact could be felt in the township where the company is headquartered.

“The commitments are not just financial and operational, but there are moral commitments as well”, Fanning told the Journal in an interview from Tokyo. “We remain committed to the successful completion of this important project”.

Moreover Toshiba says it expects a £5 billion write-down because some of its USA nuclear assets were worth far less than estimated. Now they are not expected to be finished until at least 2020, with expected costs around $19 billion.

“This agreement will provide SCE&G and Santee Cooper the time necessary to perform due diligence related to cost and schedule”, the statement said. “Westinghouse. and certain of its subsidiaries and affiliates, today filed voluntary petitions under Chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy Code”, the US firm said in a statement.

“The environment of nuclear power is so severe at this moment, it was not a sustainable business”, said Kazunori Ito, an equity analyst at Morning Star.

Georgia Power’s project to add two new reactors at the plant near Augusta began eight years ago.

Competing energy sources, including natural gas and renewables, have also presented alternatives.

Westinghouse is one of the most famous names in American industry. The drop of oil prices combined with the Three Mile Island and Fukushima accidents made nuclear power less lucrative, and plant construction kept getting stonewalled, said Ogasawara.

The utility would have to go back to the Georgia PSC, which would determine whether to complete the project or stop work.

“You’ve already invested billions of dollars”, he said. According to consumer advocacy group Georgia Watch, Georgia Power customers could be shouldering $1.4 billion to finance Vogtle construction over the next few years.

Vogtle’s total cost so far has been about $11.3 billion.