Westinghouse Electric, a US nuclear power company, is being bought by a $7.9 billion private equity-backed consortium four years after it went bankrupt, as war in Ukraine sparks renewed interest in an industry that has fallen out of favor .
Brookfield Renewable Partners, one of the world’s largest clean energy investors, and Cameco, a supplier of uranium fuel, are buying the company in a bet that climate and energy security concerns will revitalize the nuclear sector.
They will buy the group, which makes technology used in about half of the world’s 440 or so nuclear reactors, from a separate division of Brookfield Asset Management, which manages its private equity investments.
“We are witnessing some of the best market fundamentals we’ve seen in the nuclear power sector,” said Tim Gitzel, Chief Executive of Cameco, based in Saskatchewan, Canada. “[Nuclear] Energy is becoming increasingly important in a world prioritizing electrification, decarbonization and energy security.”
Cameco’s New York-listed shares fell more than 13 percent in after-hours trading after the deal was announced.
Western policymakers had until recently shunned the development of new large-scale nuclear power plants due to safety concerns and a series of massive cost and schedule overruns. But the urgency to address climate change has brought nuclear power back into focus because of its ability to provide carbon-free electricity 24 hours a day, regardless of the weather.
The International Energy Agency has said nuclear power generation must double by 2050 to reach net-zero targets.
Read more about the deal with Westinghouse Electric here.