Westinghouse has plans to shutter part of a former Combustion Engineering facility producing nuclear fuel components in Connecticut.
The company notified employees Friday that it is negotiating with their union over closure of the Windsor Fuel Components Facility's Addison Road location, The Harford Courant reported. A plant manager told the paper the decision was not final but could affect 73 employees, including engineers, machinists and welders. Engineers at another Windsor office would not be affected.
According to Westinghouse, the 60,000-square-foot plant makes parts for Combustion Engineering pressurized water reactors. They include control-element assemblies, grids, cages and fittings. The Windsor complex also includes an engineering services group, and between the two locations they also support U.S. boiling water reactors and pressurized water reactors in Germany, Belgium and France. Germany is phasing out nuclear power, which Westinghouse has cited as a challenge to demand for its components.
In 2000, Pennsylvania-based Westinghouse acquired the facility from ABB, which had purchased Combustion Engineering a decade earlier. CE's nuclear business in Connecticut dates back to its work designing naval reactors during the Cold War.