Westinghouse announced that it will further develop the eVinci microreactor in Allegheny County.
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As part of its project, the company will invest at least $18 million and create more than 40 new high-paying jobs to develop the transportable nuclear battery technology, which will provide clean energy for a variety of applications including off-grid communities, remote mining, defense facilities, and data centers.
Westinghouse signed a lease for the 87,420-square-foot building at 51 Bridge Street in Etna borough to create a technology accelerator that will support commercialization of the microreactor.
In addition to advancing the technology being developed for the eVinci microreactor, Westinghouse will also manufacture certain components at this facility that do not involve any nuclear materials.
These new manufacturing jobs will be created within the next three years.
Each eVinci microreactor is designed to provide approximately 5 megawatts of electricity 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for eight-plus years without refueling – the equivalent of up to 10,750 tanker trucks of diesel fuel.
Each microreactor is also 100 percent factory built and assembled before it is shipped in a container to any location.
At the Keystone Space Conference in Pittsburgh, Westinghouse Electric Company and Astrobotic signed a Memorandum of Understanding to explore collaboration on space technology programs for NASA and the Department of Defense.
Westinghouse is developing a scaled-down version of the eVinci microreactor to power spacecraft in orbit or for deployment on the surface of planetary bodies such as the Moon or Mars.
The facility at 51 Bridge Street is owned by the AM Group, a New York-based real estate private equity firm, who purchased it in September 2020 with a plan to redevelop the building for modern use.
The AM Group was the recipient of $3.1 million in Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP) grant funding to help redevelop the property. They also received a $450,195 Multimodal Transportation fund grant used for streetscape improvements around the facility.
Since January, Governor Shapiro has announced over $1 billion in new private sector investment in Pennsylvania as a direct result of his Administration’s work. ■