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Pittsburgh sees China support

By James Ritchie (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-09-21 08:46

Much like its vantage point at the confluence of three rivers, the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has long been at the center of three converging industries - oil, coal and steel.

But as all three have been hit hard over the years, the US city has turned to nuclear power and to China to help boost the local economy.

China is the second-largest export market for Pittsburgh companies, behind only Canada, according to the Pittsburgh China Center, which was formed in June to foster business relationships between the region and China.

That translates to about 35 companies in the region that conduct business in China.

"China is a very important market for Pittsburgh, and promises to become even more important," said Roger Cranville, president of the Pittsburgh China Center.

"Pittsburgh is a model for economic revitalization, since it has recovered from the collapse of the domestic US steel industry during the 1980s to become a center for medicine, energy research, advanced manufacturing, robotics and technological innovation," Cranville said.

Proving that Pittsburgh is more than just a steel town is Westinghouse Electric Co, based in the suburb of Cranberry Township.

Westinghouse has been tapped by China's State Nuclear Power Technology Corp (SNPTC) to build four state-of-the-art nuclear power plants, with the first to begin operating in 2013.

The contracts for the plants are estimated to be worth $5.3 billion.

Of the four plants being built in China by Westinghouse, two are in Zhejiang province and the other two are located in Shandong province.

The first plant, in Zhejiang, will come online in late 2013. The others will follow in 2014 and 2015.

But the benefits haven't only been for China. According to Westinghouse CEO Aris Candris, the contract has helped the company add to its payroll at a time when many businesses are being forced to hand out pink slips.

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"We've seen a lot of manpower growth. We hired 1,850 people last year," said Candris. Westinghouse employs about 13,000 people.

In fact, as a result of the China connection, a total of 5,000 jobs in 20 states will be added to Westinghouse, its partner, the Shaw Group, and their suppliers.

Westinghouse is not the only company in the Pittsburgh area benefiting from close ties with China.

Because China will need a knowledge base in the coming years as it continues its nuclear power generation program, SNPTC will open an office in Cranberry Township to help train its employees.

SNPTC expects to bring hundreds of engineers there for training, which will provide an economic boost to the area.

For China, the plants are a way to meet a steadily increasing demand for energy while placing fewer burdens on the environment and minimizing dependence on fossil fuels.

According to the London-based World Nuclear Association, the industry is now experiencing a revival.

The association reports that 30 reactors are being built around the world today, with some 90 to come online in the next 10 years.

A large part of the reason for the current "global build-out of plants" is that nuclear power generation does not emit greenhouse gases, said John Keeley, a spokesman for the Nuclear Energy Institute in Washington, DC.

There are 104 nuclear reactors operating in the world.

The US is falling behind China in joining the trend of new plant construction.

The first American plants to join the "new wave" of nuclear power generation won't go online until about 2015, he said.