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The Shaw Group Inc. (NYSE: SGR) and Westinghouse Electric Company, its AP1000 Consortium team member, today announced, along with China’s State Nuclear Power Technology Corporation (SNPTC) and Nuclear Construction Company, the successful placement of the first major structural module at the Sanmen nuclear power plant project.
The plant is owned by Sanmen Nuclear Power Company Ltd. (SMNPC) and located in China’s Zhejiang province.
In commenting on the CA-20 milestone, Westinghouse President and Chief Executive Officer Dr. Aris Candris lauded all parties involved with the successful installation. “As with the successful, on-time and on-schedule pour of the first nuclear concrete for the Reactor Building mat earlier this spring, we have again shown that next generation nuclear power plants can be, and are being, built in an efficient and timely manner,” he said. “We have many challenges ahead, but we look forward, with the continued close cooperation of our customer, partners and suppliers, to bringing this plant on line as scheduled in 2013.” (BUSINESS WIRE, August 13, 2009)
Shaw provided engineering and project management services leading up to and throughout the module’s lift and placement, which was executed safely and without incident. The Module CA-20 partially makes up the walls, floors and rooms of the auxiliary building, one of six buildings that comprise the nuclear island of an AP1000™ nuclear power plant.
“The setting of the world’s first major AP1000 structural module is a tremendous engineering, design, fabrication and construction accomplishment,”
Shaw is under contract with SNPTC, SMNPC, Shandong Nuclear Power Company Ltd. and China National Technical Import & Export Corporation to provide engineering, procurement, commissioning, information management and project management services for two Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear units being built at Sanmen and another two units under construction at Haiyang in Shandong province.
In the U.S, where there is no new “shovel in the ground” construction experience to lean on, it is crucial that lessons are learnt and implemented from other construction projects around the world. At present, any utility that is looking to utilize the AP1000 reactor design should be looking towards the experience gained in China.
Jeff Merrifield, Senior Vice President of the Power Group at Shaw, will be speaking at the Nuclear Energy Insider’s forthcoming Nuclear Construction Summit, taking place at the Dupont Hotel in Washington DC on October 26 – 27. (www.eyeforenergy.com/
Jeff will be giving a presentation focusing on both International and U.S. nuclear construction challenges and the latest developments. Not only will Jeff be giving valuable insight it current progress on AP1000 construction in China but he will also be investigating the preparations being made in the U.S. for new nuclear build and discussing particular construction challenges such as modularization.
The conference itself will focus on the identification and mitigation of risk factors in new nuclear construction in the U.S. through the licensing, construction and financing stages of a nuclear project. Jeff will be joined by other speakers from across the supply chain including the NRC, DOE, TVA, Southern Nuclear, Florida Power & Light, NINA Areva, Bechtel and many others. For more information on the conference please email James Taylor at jtaylor@eyeforenergy.com
