They had formed a new partnership to provide the reactor technology for the plants, which would help reach the US goal to quadruple US nuclear capacity to 400 Gigawatts by 2050.

They will build eight Westinghouse AP1000 power plants or a mix of larger facilities and small modular reactors. Each two-unit Westinghouse AP1000 project creates or sustains 45,000 manufacturing and engineering jobs in 43 states, and a national deployment will create more than 100,000 construction jobs.

The AP1000 reactor is a gen 3.5 advanced reactor, with fully passive safety systems, modular construction design and the smallest footprint per MWe on the market. There are six AP1000 reactors currently setting operational performance and availability records worldwide with 14 additional reactors under construction and five more under contract. The AP1000 technology has been selected for nuclear energy programs in Poland, Ukraine and Bulgaria.

China purchased some AP1000 reactors and then made their own similar designs.

Brookfield and Cameco formed a strategic partnership to acquire Westinghouse in October 2022.

If the US spends the full $80bn on Westinghouse reactors, it would hold rights to 20 per cent of Westinghouse profits once it distributes $17.5bn to its current owners.

The US government can also require Westinghouse to go public if its value exceeds $30 billion by 2029 and then convert its profit share into an equity stake in the company of up to 20 per cent.