The global asset management company that salvaged Westinghouse from bankruptcy is in talks to buy Moorside developer NuGen, according to reports.

Brookfield Asset Management is in early discussions with NuGen’s owner Toshiba over a deal according to a source quoted by the Financial Times, as the on-going saga over the £15 billion Moorside nuclear power station takes a fresh dramatic twist.

Westinghouse had been poised to supply three of its AP1000 reactors at Moorside when it was under the ownership of Toshiba.

But the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the USA in early 2017 having overpaid by several billion dollars for another nuclear construction and services business.

The move led NuGen’s minority shareholder Engine to pull out of the consortium and Toshiba, as sole owner, to seek a buyer for the company, which aims to build the Moorside plant on land adjacent to the Sellafield site.

Canadian-headquartered Brookfield snapped up Westinghouse in a $4.6bn deal in January this year, pledging to bring its experience as an owner and operator of critical infrastructure in the United States to revive the company.

Brookfield – which focuses its investments on long-life, high quality assets in real estate, infrastructure, renewable power and private equity – refused to comment on whether it was pursuing a deal for NuGen.

Meanwhile, Toshiba has refused to confirm it is in talks with other investors, but has said that it is considering “additional options” over the ownership of NuGen.

Toshiba has confirmed that talks are continuing with Kepco, despite stripping the Korean utility of preferred bidder status in August due to the “prolonged time" it was taking to seal a deal for NuGen.

The move led NuGen to undertake a restructure, which will see its team of around 100 staff and contractors reduced to just 32 as it focuses its efforts on helping Toshiba find a buyer.

Fears continue to grow over the future of the “transformational” Moorside project, with MPs, unions and business leaders calling on the Government to invest directly in the project to ensure it goes ahead.

Moorside has the potential to create thousands of jobs in Cumbria and generate around seven per cent of the UK’s energy needs.