About ten years ago, Westinghouse came up with an approach it hoped would revolutionize nuclear power: a simplified modular design that could be sold to more than a dozen utilities at a lower cost. It had the less-than-catchy name of the AP1000.

“The AP1000 was supposed to open a new era of reactors with a generic design that can be sold or licensed,” said Mykel Schneider, a Paris-based nuclear energy consultant. “What they did was move the problems from the factory to the construction site, where you’re dealing with a labor force that hasn’t built reactors in decade. And they used extremely optimistic cost and construction estimates.”

Toshiba bought Westinghouse for $5.4 billion in 2006. The company foresaw a golden age for nuclear power in the U.S., U.K. and China. Instead, natural gas became cheaper and the 2011 nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan, further soured the public on nuclear.

The conglomerate has already lost $6 billion on the purchase and said Thursday its full-year net loss could more than double to 1.01 trillion yen, from 390 billion yen forecast last month, following the Westinghouse bankruptcy filing.

In the U.S., only four of 30 applications for nuclear reactors using Westinghouse technology have moved forward, and even those are now at risk. Westinghouse has fallen behind on projects for U.S. utility companies Southern Co. and Scana Corp.

Cost Overruns

Scana and Southern could end up dealing with billions of dollars in additional cost overruns from the power plants they hired Westinghouse to build, according to analysts at Morgan Stanley. Scana faces as much as $5.2 billion in higher costs while Southern’s extra bills could reach $3.3 billion, Morgan Stanley has said.

Both utility owners said Wednesday that Westinghouse contractors would continue work on the four reactors while they determine how and when they will be completed. Westinghouse said it has lined up $800 million in financing to fund work during the restructuring.

Toshiba Chief Executive Officer Satoshi Tsunakawa said there is no risk of additional losses to the company from overseas nuclear projects.

“Today’s filing by Westinghouse is an important step toward recovery,” he said. “It is also in-line with our goal of limiting risk from overseas nuclear operations.”