Westinghouse Electric Company, part of Toshiba Corporation, has opened a new branch office in Abu Dhabi, which will facilitate the company's participation in the Barakah project in the United Arab Emirates.

Westinghouse is supporting the UAE's nuclear programme as a US subcontractor to the Korea Electric Power Company (KEPCO), and is providing plant components such as reactor coolant pumps and instrumentation and control equipment, along with engineering, licensing, and training services for four units at Barakah Nuclear Power Plant. Barakah 1 is scheduled to become operational in 2017.

Westinghouse also plans to use its new premises, working in close cooperation with Toshiba Power Systems Company, to promote the merits of safe, clean and reliable nuclear energy throughout the Middle East region.

At a ceremony to commemorate the opening, Jeff Benjamin, Westinghouse senior vice president, New Plants and Major Projects, lauded the United Arab Emirates for its forward-looking energy and economic policies. "The UAE's decision to move forward with a comprehensive nuclear energy program is universally accepted as a role model for other nations and regions committed to energy independence," he said.

Mohamed Al Hammadi, chief executive officer of Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC), which is responsible for the deployment, ownership and operation of nuclear energy plants within the UAE, described the establishment of new regional hubs for major industry players such as Westinghouse as "evidence of the flourishing nuclear energy sector" that is emerging in the UAE.