Jacques Besnainou, Chief Commercial Officer, Westinghouse Electric Company

In an interview with Invest:, Jacques Besnainou, chief commercial officer of Westinghouse Electric Company, discussed the unprecedented global resurgence of nuclear power, how artificial intelligence is driving this new era, and the expected creation of 15,000 jobs in the greater Pittsburgh region in the coming years. “I have never before witnessed such a pronounced need for nuclear power,” said Besnainou.

What changes over the past year impacted your operations in Pittsburgh and in what ways? 

This year has been incredible. In my 40-plus years in the nuclear business, having worked on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, and with a deep familiarity with Westinghouse technology, I have never before witnessed such a pronounced need for nuclear power. Furthermore, I have never seen such strong backup and support for nuclear power from the population, particularly within the United States. There are several reasons for this significant shift. First, there is a powerful and growing sense that we require energy security. This sentiment is even more substantial in Europe for obvious reasons related to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Energy security means possessing energy that is independent of any external entity. You do not require gas and you do not require oil. The only thing you require is uranium, which is a very abundant resource, especially throughout North America. When you construct a nuclear power plant, you have power 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for the next 80 years.

Second is the emergence of artificial intelligence. Merely three years ago, we discussed data centers that were sized for tens of megawatts. In 2024, the discussion shifted to hundreds of megawatts. Now in 2025, we are talking about gigawatt-scale data centers required to power artificial intelligence. The primary bottleneck is no longer physical space or even the computer chips, where an American company like NVIDIA is the leader. The bottleneck is, and will be, electricity. These data centers demand a very large amount of reliable, 24/7 electricity, which cannot be provided by intermittent renewable energy sources. The only viable methods to power these types of data centers are either coal, gas, or nuclear power. Coal is a very difficult proposition. Regarding gas, current demand is so immense that if you were to order a gas turbine today, you would likely have to wait for six years. Consequently, everyone is now returning to nuclear power. The beauty of nuclear power is that it currently enjoys bipartisan support on Capitol Hill and it may be one of the only issues remaining with such unified backing. 

How have these successes translated into opportunities for the Pittsburgh office, whether in R&D, project management, or supplier engagement?

The demand for nuclear power is increasing in a manner I have never before witnessed in my life. There is demand for both small modular reactors and for large amounts of energy, though for massive energy requirements, small modular reactors are not economical. The only economical solution is the large modular reactor. This is precisely what we have here at Westinghouse. It has been under development for the last 20 years and is called the AP1000, which stands for Advanced Passive 1000 megawatt reactor. It was very difficult to design and to gain approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. It was also very difficult to build as a first-of-a-kind project. We now have two reactors in operation in Georgia that are performing very well, and four in operation in China. China is constructing four per year for the next 20 years. Our goal, following an executive order from President Trump in May asking for the construction of 10 large reactors in the United States, is to focus our attention on establishing a system to get those large reactors under construction before 2030. 

Of course, this will be accomplished by Westinghouse, whose headquarters are located here in Pittsburgh, where everything started in 1886. This is where nuclear energy, as we recognize it, was invented. The first commercial nuclear reactor in the world was located here and it was called Shippingport in 1957. Shippingport is located right outside of Pittsburgh. Not only did the first reactor go critical here, but around that same time, President Eisenhower decided with his “Atoms for Peace” speech that the world would benefit from this American invention. Consequently, 50% of the reactors operating across the world today contain Westinghouse Pittsburgh technology. Now, everything is coming back, and it is happening here. We are going to restart this industry. The original work was done in the 1950s, which was 70 years ago, spanning two generations. We are now speaking of a new generation, for the youth, for the next 70 years, of a new breed of reactors that are advanced and passive. This passive safety means they can lose all external power and not experience an accident like the one that happened at Fukushima. This is a very new breed of reactor that is much safer than previous designs, and it will be run out of Pittsburgh.

How do you view the nuclear sector’s contribution to Pittsburgh’s economic base today?

If we are successful in our endeavors, and I am confident we will be, we will help create 15,000 jobs. This figure includes both Westinghouse and our extensive supply chain. This will represent a significant creation of employment in this region, in southwestern Pennsylvania around Pittsburgh. Currently, we employ approximately 3,400 people in the region across Western Pennsylvania. However, through the program I described involving ten reactors in the United States, we may induce the creation of 15,000 jobs in the next few years. The majority of these positions will be highly qualified engineering jobs. This will be a tremendous boost for the region. Westinghouse used to be one of the largest employers in the region and one of the largest companies in the world. I feel very fortunate to be leading Westinghouse at a time when I can witness its rebirth, like a phoenix rising. We have preserved the brand and when I travel and wear my Westinghouse ‘W’ pin, people consistently recognize it. They often tell me that their aunt, uncle, or grandfather used to work for Westinghouse. There was a saying in the 1950s: “If it is Westinghouse, you can be sure.” At that time, Westinghouse provided everything you needed, such as elevators, refrigerators, ovens, every kitchen appliance. It is one of those iconic companies that helped shape the nation. I am very fortunate to be at Westinghouse every day and to be part of this reinvention. The fact that we can once again be the center of nuclear power, which is a form of energy that is desperately needed right now, is incredible. 

The rebirth and restart of nuclear power is happening now, and it is happening in Pittsburgh. Is that not amazing? 

How are you cultivating the next generation of engineers and nuclear specialists here in Pittsburgh?

Pittsburgh is truly one of the key jewels in this regard. The region possesses very large, world-renowned universities like Carnegie Mellon. There is also the University of Pittsburgh, which is a very good university, and we have many other universities. We also recruit a lot from Penn State, which is not very far. We have a talent pool across Pennsylvania that is one of the best in the world, and we want to benefit from this. Our goal is to have more and more links with universities. 

How are you deepening community ties today, and what role do local outreach and philanthropy play in this?

First of all, we belong to the Allegheny Conference, and we try to give our time to understand how to make this region more dynamic. For instance, we have a very strong partnership with the United Way, which contributes to our goal of being well-integrated into the community. We believe we have a very good image, but we need to continue to cultivate this image and reach out to the population. We want children to be interested in what we do. There is a local competition that I really like where we invite high school students for a competition here involving a chain reaction contraption. We bring in local high schoolers who form teams to build elaborate sets based on themes to get a ball from one side to the other through a whole contraption. This has been near and dear to the Westinghouse team, who support this program each year. They bring the students to our headquarters in Cranberry, and it is a very fun way to see all the STEM work that these groups are doing. These are groups that Westinghouse also sponsors and provides funding for regarding their STEM activities. I love it and I imagine it would be the best day of the school year for a high school student. It is very important for us that we attract the next generation. 

Another aspect of our work that we do a lot is connect with veterans. For example, if you have been in the Navy on a nuclear submarine, it is very logical for those veterans to come to work with us. So we have different programs to reach out to veterans and attract them.

Looking ahead, what are your top priorities for the next two to three years?

The growth is accelerating, so our top priority in addition to supporting the expansion of nuclear energy through new AP1000 projects is making sure we continue to support the current fleet of reactors well. There are about 100 reactors in the United States, and we support them day in and day out, especially during their outages. Outages mean that every eighteen months they must stop to change the fuel and to repair a few things. We have a very large team of people to support the current fleet and they are counting on us. We want to ensure we continue to bring the tools, the methods, and the people to optimize the current fleet because it is producing 20% of electricity in the United States day in and day out.

That other priority regarding new construction is to get 10 AP1000 large modular reactors under construction in the United States. We are going to standardize the design completely. I always say that in the United States we have 50 kinds of reactors and one kind of cheese, and this is the problem. In France, they have only one type of reactor. The secret sauce is that if you have the same design and you repeat it, which is what the Chinese are doing, building one after the other exactly the same, you go from a first-of-a-kind to an nth-of-a-kind. It becomes much cheaper to build, and you can be sure it is on time and on budget. Reactors work well when they operate as a fleet because they are also much easier to maintain. If you have one issue on a reactor, the others may have the same issue, so it is a fleet of reactors that is much easier to maintain, and that is how you create a sustainable business. It is very important that we pull together this fleet of reactors in the United States. We are going to do the same in Europe. As you know, we are negotiating, and we have already won projects for three reactors in Poland and two in Bulgaria. We have also signed an agreement for a few reactors in Ukraine as well. Unfortunately, because of the war, we cannot execute the contract, but as soon as the war is over, we are going to be in Ukraine building reactors and rebuilding the nuclear infrastructure. These are very exciting goals for us, being present in North America and also across Europe, to rebuild nuclear power infrastructure.

Lastly, we need to supply electricity to data centers as energy for artificial intelligence. But also, we do need artificial intelligence for energy. This means that we are going to use artificial intelligence more and more in everything we do to optimize outages, engineering, and construction. We just signed an agreement with Google a few weeks ago in order to do that. So our goal is not only to supply artificial intelligence with power but also to use artificial intelligence for optimizing our own operations.