Yesterday, I blogged about serious financial problems at Toshiba because of difficulties at Westinghouse, its U.S. nuclear technology subsidiary. Westinghouse is busy working on construction projects for eight nuclear power reactors in the U.S. It is not yet known whether or not the problems at Toshiba will impact the U.S. reactors projects of Westinghouse.
Toshiba is still hoping to profit from its nuclear technology business in the U.S. In 2016, Toshiba American Energy Systems (TAES) was created by the consolidation of several branches of Toshiba's Energy Systems and Solutions company in Charlotte, North Carolina. Charlotte is considered a major center of innovation in the energy sector and is home to other major companies working in the energy sector.
The CEO of TASE told an interviewer that Toshiba had had separate divisions to provide turbines to the coal, hydro and nuclear industries. In view of the fact that some of Toshiba's utility customers were consolidating the management of different energy sources, Toshiba made the decision to consolidate the separate turbine divisions into a single entity.
Charlotte was chosen for the new consolidated turbine business because the nuclear division was already located in Charlotte and the city had a number of attractive features both for employees and for the company. The Denver and San Francisco offices were brought to Charlotte and merged with the nuclear division. The main business for TAES is the sale of turbines to the energy production industry.
North Carolina has create a Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard. Recently there have been calls by members of the nuclear power industry to include nuclear energy in the Portfolio. Toshiba is currently involved in the construction of nuclear power reactors in North Carolina and definitely supports this initiative. The CEO of TAES believes that nuclear power is critical to meeting climate change mitigation goals of lowering carbon emissions from power plants.
As with all nuclear power reactors, spent nuclear fuel disposal is a big problem. The CEO of TAES agrees that it is necessary to create a permanent geological repository for the disposal of spent nuclear fuel in the U.S. He suggested that the canceled Yucca Mountain Repository project should be reconsidered. He also said that there are dry cask systems for storing spent nuclear fuel onsite at nuclear power plants.
Toshiba is not a manufacturer of wind and solar power systems but they are interested in working with major manufacturers of such systems. Toshiba is also working on closed-cycle, zero-emission gas turbines to help fight climate change.
While energy generation is a primary focus for TAES, they are also working on other projects such as ion cancer therapy developed from their nuclear technology. This new medical technology is being developed for the U.S. market and will be available soon. The CEO says that a few twenty-minute sessions can eliminate major cancer tumors without serious side effects.
It is unclear exactly how recent problems at Toshiba Corporate in Japan and Westinghouse Nuclear in the U.S. will impact TAES.
