Westinghouse Electrical Firm and Bechtel have collectively proposed a deal to provide the Czech Republic with as many as 4 AP1000 nuclear reactors. The proposal goals to assemble one or two models on the Dukovany nuclear website and two further models on the Temelin website. The Dukovany website at the moment has 4 Russian-designed VVER-440 nuclear models, which started operation between 1985 and 1987, with a complete put in electrical capability of two,040 MW. Temelin, in the meantime, has two VVER-1000 models with a mixed capability of two,180 MW.
Westinghouse says it has deep ties to the Czech nuclear trade starting in 1993 with the availability of superior instrumentation and management methods to the Temelin plant. “Westinghouse first partnered with the Czech Republic on nuclear power three a long time in the past and we’re proud and excited to have the ability to additional honor that dedication by offering protected, dependable nuclear power from our confirmed AP1000 know-how,” David Durham, president of Power Methods for Westinghouse, stated in a press release. “Collectively we are able to lay the inspiration for a clear, safe power future that extends for the subsequent 80 years of operation, and past.”
Beginning in 2024, Westinghouse will provide nuclear gasoline to each the Dukovany (Determine 1) and Temelin nuclear websites. The corporate claims to be the one viable various Western nuclear gasoline provider for nations working legacy Russian nuclear models.
“For over 70 years, Bechtel has been on the forefront of innovation throughout the nuclear trade,” stated John Howanitz, president of Bechtel’s Nuclear, Safety, and Environmental enterprise unit. “We stay up for sharing our experience within the Czech Republic to offer not solely clear, dependable, nuclear power, however to strengthen the native nuclear workforce and suppliers all through the area for generations to return.”
U.S. Ambassador to the Czech Republic Bijan Sabet confirmed the U.S. authorities’s help of the Westinghouse-Bechtel bid to construct a brand new reactor at Dukovany. “We see mutual advantages to each the US and the Czech Republic. From a strategic power safety perspective, deciding on a U.S. know-how would offer the Czech Republic with a dependable supply of unpolluted power that not solely will fight local weather change and scale back emissions, however can be an funding within the Czech individuals, creating hundreds of inexperienced jobs throughout the nuclear provide chain,” Amb. Sabet stated. “We hope the Czech Republic companions with Westinghouse/Bechtel for his or her confirmed and superior AP1000 know-how, which has been designed, licensed, constructed, and is working in different components of the world.”
Plant Vogtle Unit 3, the primary AP1000 unit constructed within the U.S., entered industrial operation on July 31 this yr. A second AP1000 unit is predicted to start operation at Plant Vogtle early subsequent yr. Bechtel’s involvement in that challenge has been instrumental to success. In 2017, it took over day-to-day building of the challenge beneath the course of Southern Nuclear, a Southern Firm subsidiary, after earlier contractors, together with Fluor, CB&I, and The Shaw Group, struggled to realize challenge milestones.
In China, 4 AP1000 reactors are in operation—two at Sanmen Nuclear Energy Plant in Zhejiang and two at Haiyang Nuclear Energy Plant in Shandong. Two AP1000 models have been ordered by SCANA Corp. and Santee Cooper to develop the V.C. Summer time Nuclear Station in South Carolina, however building on these models ceased in July 2017 after prolonged delays and value overruns. On the time, South Carolina Electrical & Gasoline Co., a SCANA subsidiary, concluded “that it could not be in one of the best curiosity of its prospects and different stakeholders to proceed building of the challenge.”
But, around the globe, new AP1000 models are discovering a bevy of suitors. In October 2022, Poland introduced it had chosen Westinghouse to construct its first nuclear reactors. Polish authorities stated three AP1000 reactors can be constructed initially, with the expectation for at the least three extra sooner or later. Additionally in October 2022, China’s State Council accepted two AP1000 models for State Energy Funding Corp.’s Lianjiang Nuclear Energy Plant in Zhanjiang, Guangdong province. 9 AP1000 models are deliberate at a number of websites within the Ukraine together with at state-owned Energoatom’s 2-GW Khmelnytskyi nuclear energy plant, whereas Bulgaria has additionally chosen AP1000 know-how for added models on the Kozloduy website.
Japan and TerraPower Broaden Partnership
In the meantime, on Nov. 1, the Japan Atomic Power Company (JAEA), Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), Mitsubishi FBR Methods (MFBR), and TerraPower introduced the enlargement of their memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the event of sodium-cooled quick reactor (SFR) applied sciences.
“We’re thrilled to develop our collaboration with JAEA as Japan works to convey superior nuclear reactors to market,” TerraPower President and CEO Chris Levesque stated in a press release. “With a view to obtain our local weather targets, nations the world over are going to want to deploy superior reactors beginning within the 2030s, and this settlement will assist us consider the design alternatives for large-scale Natrium vegetation that may help Japan’s carbon targets.”
In January 2022, TerraPower, JAEA, and MHI signed an MOU to collaborate on SFR know-how improvement. In December 2022, the Japanese authorities revised their Strategic Roadmap for quick reactor improvement, clarifying that Japan will start quick reactor idea design in 2024. The federal government in July 2023 chosen a 650-MW pool-type SFR idea proposed by MFBR because the design to be developed, and MHI as the principle producer and constructor.
This expanded MOU will permit TerraPower and Japan to discover the chance to collaborate on a typical reactor design idea, based mostly on Japan’s quick reactor demonstration program and TerraPower’s present applied sciences. TerraPower is at the moment growing the 345-MW Natrium reactor within the U.S., with the help of the U.S. Division of Power (DOE) via the Superior Reactor Demonstration Program (ARDP). The first Natrium plant is predicted to start industrial operation in 2030. The Japanese MOU has been revised to incorporate a rise in measurement of the Natrium design for enhanced value competitiveness and steel gasoline security.
—Aaron Larson is POWER’s government editor (@POWERmagazine).
