BEIJING (Reuters) — US-based Westinghouse Electric has won a two-year battle for a multi-billion-dollar nuclear power deal with China, edging out French and Russian rivals to secure a contract that may help Beijing smooth ties with Washington.The deal, estimated in the past at some $8 billion, should warm relations between the world’s top two energy consumers, who have clashed lately over a range of issues from the yuan currency to the Chinese bid for US independent oil firm Unocal.

It will also reaffirm China — now a laggard in the nuclear sector — at the forefront of a global trend towards increased use of atomic power, touted by many nations as the cleanest, cheapest solution to the world’s strained energy industry.