PITTSBURGH, Jan. 26, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Westinghouse Electric Company LLC today announced the formation of Westinghouse Electric Canada, Inc. to better serve its Canadian customers, strengthen its ties with Canadian suppliers, and align itself more appropriately with the regulations and requirements in Canada to meet growing business opportunities there.  The headquarters will be located in Toronto, Ontario. 

"The formation of an official Canadian entity is consistent with our strategy to increase business in the country," said Jim Ferland, Westinghouse president, Americas. "Our Canadian customers have increasingly turned to us for nuclear power plant services, and upgrades to automation and controls. We're meeting their needs both in terms of quality and competitive pricing," said Ferland, "but with the creation of Westinghouse Canada, we will better provide our worldwide capabilities and experience in a fashion that will meet the specific needs and aspirations of Canada's viable nuclear energy industry."  

Westinghouse currently has more than 150 Canadian suppliers that provide a range of products and services for the Westinghouse product lines of Fuel, Services, Automation, and Nuclear Power Plants.  Additionally, by establishing Westinghouse Canada, Westinghouse is further positioning itself for future new nuclear power plant business there.  Utilities in Canada are expressing interest in the Westinghouse AP1000® pressurized water reactor (PWR) – widely regarded as the safest, most-advanced PWR technology currently available – and the Westinghouse Small Modular Reactor, a 200 MWe class integral PWR currently under development that is suited for smaller electrical grids, distributed generation, and process heat requirements.

With 15,000 employees worldwide in affiliated companies, Westinghouse Electric Company LLC, 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 is the largest nuclear energy provider in the US with more than 9,000 employees there. In 1957, Westinghouse supplied the world's first PWR in the Western Pennsylvania town of Shippingport. 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 and 40 percent worldwide.

SOURCE Westinghouse Electric Company LLC