Westinghouse Electric Company, the nuclear technology supplier for Poland’s first atomic power plant, has confidentially filed for a public listing on a US stock exchange. The move comes as investor enthusiasm for nuclear power grows and as the project’s key construction contract is still being negotiated.
The Pennsylvania-based firm has not yet disclosed how many shares will be offered or what price range it is considering for the initial public offering. By filing confidentially, Westinghouse can shield its financial data from public view until closer to the market debut and prepare away from the scrutiny of a normal stock exchange listing.
Nuclear and quantum companies have increasingly chosen this traditional IPO path over blank-check transactions, which for years were the main route to public markets for speculative businesses. Reuters notes that enthusiasm for nuclear stocks has been boosted by the rapid expansion of data centers run by big technology companies, which need a stable electricity supply in the United States, including from nuclear power.
Nuclear boom and American supply chain
Last month, Westinghouse announced a partnership with the US Department of Energy aimed at strengthening the American supply chain for commercial nuclear power. The company, whose owners include Cameco and Brookfield Renewable Partners, is one of the few surviving business lines of the original enterprise founded by George Westinghouse in 1886, the man who commercialized alternating current.
In 1957 Westinghouse built the world’s first commercial pressurized water reactor in Shippingport, Pennsylvania. The company says more than half of all nuclear reactors operating worldwide rely on this technology today.
Polish nuclear project awaits key contract
In Poland, Westinghouse is negotiating the key engineering, procurement and construction contract for the first Polish nuclear power plant. The negotiations involve the Westinghouse-Bechtel consortium and the investor, Polskie Elektrownie Jądrowe.
– The sooner we sign this contract, the more confidently we will be able to talk about the schedules, that is, delivering the key milestones for individual units – said Mirosław Kowalik, president of Westinghouse’s Polish branch.
The plant in Choczewo is expected to cost PLN 192 billion and will be equipped with three AP1000 reactors supplied by Westinghouse. It is scheduled to enter service between 2036 and 2038.
Cameco and Brookfield Renewable Partners acquired Westinghouse Electric in 2023 in a deal valued at $7.9 billion, following decades of restructuring and ownership changes at the historic company.
Źródło: WNP.PL, Fot. LIVEK / Shutterstock
