Westinghouse Completes CB&I Nuclear Business Acquisition, Picks Fluor to Manage Vogtle, Summer Power Plant Unit Additions

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Westinghouse Electric Company (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) has completed the acquisition of Chicago Bridge & Iron Company NV's (NYSE:CBI) (CB&I) (The Hague, Netherlands) nuclear plant construction business. The acquisition covers large nuclear plant projects in Georgia and South Carolina where CB&I had provided engineering services. As part of the transition, Westinghouse awarded two subcontracts to Fluor Corporation (NYSE:FLR) (Irving, Texas) to manage the construction workforce at the two projects, each of which have experienced delays and cost overruns.

Westinghouse, part of Toshiba Corporation (Tokyo, Japan), first announced the acquisition of CB&I Stone & Webster Incorporated in October, and received government approval for the transaction on December 31.

The move affects the two-unit addition to South Carolina Electric & Gas's (SCE&G) (Cayce, South Carolina) Virgil C. Summer Nuclear Station, where CB&I had been the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) firm. In September, SCE&G, a unit of SCANA Corporation (NYSE:SCG) (Cayce), revised the projected cost of the project, which included $535 million associated with schedule delays and other contested costs. The units are scheduled to be operating by mid-2019 and mid-2020. When originally announced, the in-service dates were projected to be 2016 and 2019. For related information, see July 14, 2015, article - Nuclear Power Update: Finish Line in Sight for Watts Bar Unit 2, but Delays and Cost Overruns Still Plague Vogtle and Summer Unit Additions.

SCANA said in a press statement it expects the transition to have a minimal impact as most employees should be retained under the new organization. "The purchase of Stone & Webster by Westinghouse simplifies the EPC Agreement as the two original members of the Consortium become vertically integrated, said SCANA Chief Executive Officer Kevin Marsh. The two new units each will be able to generate up to about 1,117 MW. The project has a total investment value of $15 million.

The acquisition also covers the Vogtle Nuclear Plant addition project in Georgia, where CB&I had provided engineering work.

The Vogtle plant is operated by Georgia Power Company (Atlanta, Georgia), a unit of the Southern Company (NYSE:SO) (Atlanta, Georgia). Vogtle units 3 and 4 will add 2,234 MW of new generation capacity at the facility. Completion of the new units is now expected in 2019 and 2020, compared with the original dates of from 2016 and 2017. The project has a total investment value of $16.2 billion. Like the Virgil C. Summer additions, the project has incurred large cost overruns.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, five offices in North America and 10 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities. Follow IIR on: Facebook - Twitter - LinkedIn. For more information on our coverage, send inquiries to info@industrialinfo.com or visit us online at http://www.industrialinfo.com/.