NuCrane Manufacturing Ships First AP1000® Polar Crane to China

- Another milestone that will keep Westinghouse's China projects on schedule

- Shows mutually beneficial nature of Westinghouse approach to global business

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Aug 15, 2011, 01:00 ET

PITTSBURGH, Aug. 15, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Westinghouse Electric Company announced today that its NuCrane Manufacturing LLC (NuCrane) facility in Hutchinson, Minn. has begun shipment of the first AP1000 polar crane destined for China National Nuclear Corporation's (CNNC) Sanmen 1 Nuclear Power Plant currently under construction in Sanmen County, Zhejiang Province, China.

Eleven flat bed trucks and 15 shipping containers will transport the 300-ton capacity crane from Hutchinson to New Orleans, La., where it will be loaded onto commercial ships for transit to China. Expected arrival at the construction site is late October.

Westinghouse President of Operations Ric Perez said that the successful shipment again shows the mutually beneficial nature of the Westinghouse approach to international business, which is designed to build infrastructure and promote energy independence in the countries in which it does business while also creating jobs and infrastructure in the United States.

"This shipment is a testament to our approach to the increasingly global nuclear energy industry in that it shows that by working together cooperatively we have created long-term competitive job opportunities in both the United States and China," he said. "For example, the NuCrane factory in which this equipment was manufactured and tested was built specifically to expand the manufacturing capacity necessary to support the global growth of nuclear energy. We fully expect that ongoing cooperation between this U.S. factory and its sister facilities in China will continue for years to come, showcasing the benefits of cooperation between the U.S. and China in the nuclear energy arena."

Mr. Perez also pointed out that in addition to supporting the projects in China, the NuCrane factory will serve as the foundation for heavy material-handling systems for the AP1000 units to be built in the USA.

Westinghouse estimates that the four projects in China are creating or sustaining approximately 5,000 jobs in the United States across no less than 20 states.

Sanmen 1 is the first of four AP1000 Nuclear Power Plants currently under construction in China. Sanmen 1 and 2 are scheduled to start generating power in 2013 and 2014, respectively, and Haiyang 1 and 2 are expected to follow in 2014 and 2015.

Westinghouse in 2007 signed contracts with China's State Nuclear Power Technology Corporation (SNPTC), Sanmen Nuclear Power Company Ltd, Shandong Nuclear Power Company Ltd., and China National Technical Import & Export Corporation (CNTIC) to provide four AP1000 nuclear power plants in China.

Westinghouse Electric Company, a group company of Toshiba Corporation (TKY:6502), is the world's pioneering nuclear energy company and is a leading supplier of nuclear plant products and technologies to utilities throughout the world. Westinghouse supplied the world's first pressurized water reactor in 1957 in Shippingport, Pa. Today, Westinghouse technology is the basis for approximately one-half of the world's operating nuclear plants, including 60 percent of those in the United States.

NuCrane – a joint venture between Westinghouse Electric Company subsidiary PaR Nuclear, Inc. of Shoreview, Minn., and Hutchinson Manufacturing, Inc., (HMI) of Hutchinson, Minn. – was formed in September 2009 to manufacture large cranes primarily for the U.S. market. This new production capacity complements PaR Nuclear's provision of fuel-handling equipment and outage-critical cranes for commercial nuclear power plants worldwide.

www.westinghousenuclear.com

SOURCE Westinghouse Electric Company