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Nuclear giant opens Lancashire office
Mike Tynan
One of the world’s biggest energy firms has opened its permanent UK headquarters on a Lancashire business park.
Westinghouse, which owns the Springfields nuclear fuel factory at Salwick, near Preston, has taken the space at Matrix Park at Buckshaw Village, near Chorley ahead of its planned expansion.
It is one of a pair of nuclear reactor builders bidding to land some of the multi-billion pound contracts to build the country’s next generation of reactors.
Chief executive Mike Tynan said its work to get its AP1000 reactor model licensed by UK regulators and selected by utilities companies which have bought up land next to existing power stations across the UK would be carried out from its new Lancashire base.
He said: “We are working hard to ensure that the Westinghouse AP1000 reactor design is licensed for use in the UK, and that it is selected by utility customers.
“We are also developing a reactor services and decommissioning business here, which is a growing area for Westinghouse, building on our track record in this sector overseas. We have found that having a headquarters located a few miles away from our Springfields site has been helpful in allowing us to focus on these wider opportunities and the synergies between them.”
It expects to move into the new offices next month after out-growing its offices at The Pavilions on Preston docklands where it has had a temporary presence for the last 18 months.
Mr Tynan said: “Matrix Park will suit our needs well, it has space for more people, and we will have a longer–term presence there.
“Importantly too, it retains our roots in Central Lancashire, where Westinghouse is long-established.”
Westinghouse has said that if the AP1000 is picked for a number of the proposed sites for new reactors it could add hundreds of new jobs to its head office operations in Central Lancashire.
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Wednesday 08 February 2012
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