SCOTTISH Nuclear chairman Robin Jeffrey is packing his bags and heading west for Toronto, where he will take up the newly-created position of executive director of North America for British Energy.
His departure within the next week gives added weight to the Edinburgh-based company's international expansion programme, which is focused on both Canada and the US. Jeffrey's main objective in Toronto will be to iron out a deal to acquire part of the nuclear generating assets of Ontario Hydro, the struggling state-owned power company.
Speaking yesterday from the Scottish Nuclear headquarters at Peel Park near East Kilbride, Jeffrey said he was unsure about when he might return to the UK. A statement issued by the company described the post as permanent.
''My wife will be going with me,'' he said. ''Obviously we wouldn't be doing that unless there was a strong business rational for me to be there.''
Once there, one of his main tasks will be to forge a public-private partnership in which British Energy will take a stake in a newly-formed company operating the nuclear assets of Ontario Hydro. This partnership will include the Provincial government and a variety of participants from the private sector.
Ontario Hydro has struggled financially in recent years and has also come under attack for its safety record. The company owns 20 nuclear power plants, seven of which are in long-term shutdown and another seven of which have been closed temporarily.
The generator also has hydro stations and fossil fuel stations under its belt, although these are not of any interest to British Energy.
''Our plans are focused on the nuclear plant,'' Jeffrey said. ''That is where our expertise lies. We still have a lot of work to do, and there is some way to go yet, but I wouldn't be going out there unless we were serious about our prospects in Canada.''
Jeffrey began visiting Toronto in September of last year and has travelled back numerous times while working through the preliminary stages of the deal. He took over responsibility for international development in July 1997 while still serving as Scottish Nuclear's chairman and chief executive.
He will now give up those posts, although he will continue as the group's deputy chairman. British Energy chief executive Peter Hollins will become chairman of the subsidiary, while Scottish Nuclear technical director David Anderson has been appointed acting chief executive.
The company's statement made it clear that both men were working ''on an interim basis, pending the full integration'' of Scottish Nuclear and its English equivalent, Nuclear Electric. The divided structure, with British Energy acting as the holding company, was set out by the Government at the time of privatisation.
The aim was to appease those who failed in their bid to have the Scottish nuclear assets of Hunterston and Torness flogged off as a separate company. However, it has led to criticism from shareholders about the unnecessarily complicated structure of the company.
The group is already in the process of ditching the Scottish Nuclear and Nuclear Electric names and replacing them across-the-board with British Energy.
Jeffrey confirmed yesterday that work was progressing to fully integrate operations at the two subsidiaries. This is in spite of assurances at the time of privatisation that Scottish Nuclear's existence as a separate entity would be ''wholly preserved and guaranteed in the long term''.
''This is something that the British Energy board has been addressing,'' Jeffrey said, ''and it is obviously an issue that Peter Hollins wants to look at.
''We believe that we have demonstrated the strong commercial success of British Energy, and I believe that we have built up quite a bit of respect for the company.''
As executive director of North America, Jeffrey will also be responsible for British Energy's joint partnership with Peco Energy of Philadelphia. This venture, known as AmerGen, was set up to purchase a portfolio of nuclear assets in the US.
Jeffrey refused to elaborate on recent speculation that AmerGen might bid for Three Mile Island, site of the Western world's most notorious nuclear accident in 1979.
''We are talking to GPU (the owners of Three Mile Island) and a number of other parties, but nothing has been concluded,'' he said. ''All of those talks are covered by confidentiality clauses, so it wouldn't be right to elaborate any further.''
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