THE NUCLEAR FILES #6 Westinghouse Electric’s Dr Rita Baranwal was in Australia in October last year, when the Brookfield bid for Origin was still alive and looking like it was headed for victory. The nuclear club and the coalition’s nuclear frontman, Ted O’Brien MP, were all over this visit.
Baranwal, senior vice president of Westinghouse’s AP300 SMR division, and before that its chief technology officer, is an important figure in the US nuclear establishment in her own right.
Originally appointed in 2019 by then President Donald Trump, she was an Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy at the US Department of Energy, prior to joining Westinghouse, which is co-owned by Brookfield Renewable Partners and big uranium miner Cameco Corporation.
In October 2023, when Baranwal visited Australia, she spoke at the Australian Financial Review Energy and Climate Summit and, perhaps even more significantly, at the Australian Nuclear Association’s annual conference, the nuclear club’s home territory – (Baranwal’s video is here).
A social media post at the time proclaims her connection to key nuclear club players, and to O’Brien, who also was a speaker at the ANA conference.
Tellingly, Baranwal thanked the sponsors for the ANA conference, including the Australian pro-nuclear company SMR Nuclear Technology (we’ve covered elsewhere in this series where its lobbying fits); and a Canadian-headquartered engineering company called Atkins R?alis, arguably another arm of Big Nuke, a sponsor of the global Net Zero Nuclear industry lobby group, and is now building a presence in Australia.
On her trip down under, Baranwal ventured into Australian politics, taking aim at the actual government. While Australia’s Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Chris Bowen, said that shifting to nuclear power would cost $A 387 billion, Baranwal pitched that Westinghouse could do it for a mere $US70 billion, made up of 70 small modular reactors at $US1 million apiece.
Baranwal also directly criticised the Australian government nuclear policy, including attacking the it for hypocrisy because of its support for the the AUKUS nuclear submarines deal but not civilian nuclear power.
This is noteworthy because corporate spokespeople are often wary of directly attacking a sovereign government, even when they disagree with its policy positions. Remember, Baranwal’s visit was in October 2023, less than eight months ago, when a multi-billion dollar bid for Origin by Brookfield, Westinghouse’s owner, was still alive and looking likely to succeed, before failing at a final hurdle in December 2023.
Questions to Brookfield and Westinghouse’s Dr Rita Baranwal
The Fifth Estate put the following questions in writing to Brookfield Australia, which has declined to respond, and also to Westinghouse’s Dr Rita Baranwal:
- Brookfield and Cameco in Canada, and Westinghouse Electric in the US, are all listed as stopover visits for the nuclear power study tour led by the Australian Opposition’s shadow minister for climate change and energy, Ted O’Brien MP, in January-February 2023. Who did O’Brien and the study tour group meet at Brookfield? And what was discussed? To what purpose?
- The study tour also visited Westinghouse Electric (Waltz Mill site in Pennsylvania) and met with Dr Rita Baranwal, senior vice-president AP300 SMR (small nuclear reactors) when she was chief technology officer). Is Brookfield in Australia aware of this visit, and is it across and able to share the details of its purpose, the nature of the discussions, everyone who was involved and their roles, etc, and could you explain such details? (Noting that this was occurring at a time when Brookfield’s bid for Origin Energy was in play.)
- Given the very active nuclear power discussion in Australia, does Brookfield/Brookfield Renewable Partners have a position on whether or not it would consider providing nuclear technology solutions in Australia, including via Westinghouse Electric, or other pathways?
- In that regard, does Brookfield rule in or rule out ever being involved in nuclear power projects in Australia, for example if there is a change of government -– as soon as the next elections by May 2025 – and, in the scenario where the Opposition wins, the current ban on nuclear power is lifted and investment is invited by the government of the day?
- Were Brookfield Australia and its personnel, including Luke Edwards and yourself, involved in Dr Rita Baranwal’s visit to Australia in October last year, which included appearances at the Australian Nuclear Association annual conference (6 October) and an AFR summit (9 October)?
- And does Brookfield Australia endorse or otherwise the public criticisms Dr Baranwal made of the Australian government’s nuclear policy approach, including retaining the ban on nuclear in Australia? And her statements that Westinghouse could build (70) SMRs across Australia for $US70billion and have them operating in a decade?
- Did Brookfield at any stage discuss or evaluate options for nuclear power at retiring coal power station sites that were involved with either its AGL Energy or Origin Energy bids, even though neither of these bids were ultimately successful?
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