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Drawing of the Barakah nuclear power plant to be constructed in the U.A.E. Photo courtesy of the Westinghouse Electric Company. |
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Employees of the Westinghouse Electric Company at its facility in Newington, N.H. Included in the photo are Westinghouse CEO Daniel L. Roderick (front row, fourth from the right) and Ex-Im Bank Chairman Fred P. Hochberg (front row, sixth from the right), who visited the plant in October 2012. Photo courtesy of Westinghouse. |
In a transaction that will support of thousands of American jobs, Ex-Im Bank authorized a $2 billion direct loan in FY 2012 to the Barakah One Company of the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.) to finance the purchase of U.S. goods and services for the construction of a nuclear power plant. The transaction is Ex-Im Bank’s largest in the U.A.E. to date.
The Barakah nuclear power project will consist of four power-generating units on a coastal site along the Arabian Gulf approximately 220 kilometers from the city of Abu Dhabi.
Ex-Im Bank, in conjunction with other U.S. and U.A.E. governmental agencies, has conducted a detailed and extensive risk assessment of the project, in accord with the Bank’s environmental procedures and guidelines.
The facility will built with U.S. equipment and expertise exported by American companies serving as exporters and suppliers in 17 states, including California, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Texas.
Westinghouse Electric Company LLC, a Pittsburgh, Pa.-based group company of Toshiba Corp., will be the primary and largest exporter involved in the transaction. Westinghouse will provide reactor coolant pumps, reactor components, controls, engineering services and training for the project.
With a U.S. workforce of approximately 9,000 employees, Westinghouse retails fuel, technology, plant design and equipment to the nuclear-power industry. The company’s facility in Newington, N.H., will be responsible for the Barakah nuclear power project.
Ex-Im’s financing for the project will support 600 jobs at Westinghouse and will also help to maintain jobs at suppliers and service companies across the country. In total, the Bank’s financing will support approximately 5,000 American jobs, according to estimates derived from U.S. Census Bureau statistics.
The Barakah project demonstrates that when countries seek to modernize their energy infrastructure, the demand for U.S. expertise and manufactured equipment provides opportunities to create and sustain many good-paying jobs in the United States.