Florida Nuclear Plant Contract

[nickelkid]

Baton Rouge-Based Shaw Group, Westinghouse Awarded Florida Nuclear Plant Contract

Source: New Orleans CityBusiness

Publication date: 2009-01-05
Arrival time: 2009-01-12

By Anonymous

The Shaw Group and partner Westinghouse Electric Co. have been awarded contracts to build two nuclear power units for Progress Energy Florida's new power plant in Levy County, Fla. The units each have an electric generating capacity of 1,100 megawatts.

"This project is particularly important because it will enable Progress Energy to fulfill its commitment to retire older fossil- fired units in Florida," said said J.M. Bernhard Jr., Shaw's chairman, president and CEO.

The value of Shaw's contract was undisclosed.

Progress Energy cleared its first regulatory hurdle in July when the Florida Public Service Commission approved its "Determination of Need" petition. Approval of the Levy County site is expected this year, and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's final approval is expected by early 2012.

The first nuclear power unit at Levy County is expected to be operational in 2016, and the second unit would begin operation a year later.

Portions of the units will be assembled at Shaw's new production facility in Lake Charles.

Shaw and Westinghouse are providing engineering, design, procurement and project management services for the four units in China. At least 14 new units - including Levy County - are being planned by U.S. electric utilities, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Six of these units are now under contract with Shaw and Westinghouse.

Credit: CityBusiness Staff Report

(Copyright 2009 Dolan Media Newswires)

(c) 2009 New Orleans CityBusiness. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.

A service of YellowBrix, Inc.

Publication date: 2009-01-05
© 2009, YellowBrix, Inc.

 

[Zogzog]

"Shaw and Westinghouse are providing engineering, design, procurement and project management services for the four units in China."

What a shame, like our economy dosent need it. Thanks Shaw and Westinghouse.

 

[Metalmeister]

Finally a new blog on this site! Surprising, given the amount of activity in the industry. All we need now is to turn a shovel or two and break some ground.

Shaw's involvement in China is great news. Helps our trade balance. We buy dolls and they buy nuclear design and construction mgmt services.

 

[gmax137]

Zogzog said: What a shame, like our economy dosent need it. Thanks Shaw and Westinghouse.

What do you mean by that, Zogzog?? Would you feel better if the French AREVA or Russian Atomstroyexport had the contracts for those Chinese units?? At least there's a bunch of work going on in Pittsburgh, PA, Windsor, CT, and Stoughton, Mass.

 

[rmw]

I took his comment to be rather tongue in cheek-stating a negative to make a positive comment; irony so to speak.

rmw

 

[racookpe1978]

And the design/contract for the Balance of Plant will be by ????

 

[gmax137]

As stated, the BOP will be by Shaw (nee Stone & Webster)

 

[bones206]

There is a patriotic reason for rooting for the success of the China AP1000 projects. It seems to me that the domestic "nuclear rennaisance" is a little over-hyped and may totally fall apart, especially in a volatile economy where financing has become scarce and with a new administration that is less than enthusiastic about nuclear power. In other words, the window of opportunity has gotten smaller. Since the AP1000's in China are the first ones being built in the world, potential clients here in the States are watching closely to see whether or not they should build their own plants. Even utilities that have already signed contracts and applied for licenses may back out if they see large cost overruns and delays in China. This is just my opinion, but I believe that there is a lot hinged on the success of the offshore plants.

 

[racookpe1978]

OK.

But, if the AP1000 are a great design and are a product of tremendous engineering and analysis efforts - the Chinese are notorious for stealing designs, making (bad quality and very cheap) copies of units they purchase and then marketing the pirated designs and ideas. So, what is protecting the investment in the design and the engineering in China? Good faith and contracts ??

Worse, the Chinese have a well-earned reputation for bad quality and unsafe construction. Sure, the AP might be a tremendous design with robust safety "designed in" - but if the welds are bad, the metal worse, the concrete and rebar worthless, and the fabrication and inspection not worth the dirt they have dug out for the foundation - what will happen to nuclear power worldwide when the AP fails?

 

[bones206]

knock on wood

Actually, from what I've heard so far the quality of workmanship at the Sanmen, China site is very high, at least on foundation work. The Chinese are taking a lot of pride in this project and it shows in their attention to detail and quality. Hopefully that carries through the rest of the project.

But I hear what you're saying and I think a lot of people share your sentiments.

 

[racookpe1978]

For example:

http://www.shanghaidaily.com/sp/article/2009/200902/20090207/article_390150.htm

Chinese high pressure piping project blown to bits by an "explosive-like forces" when a pressure vessel (and its piping train) blew up during a pneumatic air (hydro with air pressure) while under construction.

My sympathy to those who lost their lives.

 

[gmax137]

"So, what is protecting the investment in the design and the engineering in China? Good faith and contracts ??"

I'm pretty sure the Chinese are paying Westinghouse for tech transfer, and there are license agreements in place. Tho I did read somewhere that the Chinese may uprate the design to ~1500MWe and try to sell that themselves. Time will tell...

"Worse, the Chinese have a well-earned reputation for bad quality and unsafe construction. Sure, the AP might be a tremendous design with robust safety "designed in" - but if the welds are bad, the metal worse, the concrete and rebar worthless, and the fabrication and inspection not worth the dirt they have dug out for the foundation - what will happen to nuclear power worldwide when the AP fails? "

Are you basing this opinion on firsthand knowledge or just on anecdotes? Posting boiler explosion stories doesn't cut it either, they are a worldwide phenomenon (occurring *even* here in the USA). Tell us what you youself have seen in China. Painting them as a billion dirt farmers is just ignorant.

 

[Zogzog]

Consider the pot stirred

 

[racookpe1978]

First hand knowledge of concrete, rebar, pumps, castings, welding, metal fab, electronics quality, intellectual theft and care-of-work; and first-person knowledge of turbine (blade path) and software design theft.

 

[Ubbe]

One interersteing aspect is that the AREVA-NP EPWR is a 1600 MWe plant, present being erected in Finland is approximately 20 % more expensive than the AP1000 but gives 40 % more energy, thus being more cost effective.
Concerning China, as far as I know, they are planning on building more than 20 AREVA-NP EPWR’s.
Since the U.K. is considering 10 new plants, the main contenders are the AP1000 and the EPWR.
One company investigating new plants is Vattenfall, and the are – as far as rumours go – considering either AP1000 or EPWR, depending on how cooling water conditions are (tide), how the national/regional grid is designed and also looking into design diversity on the English market.
My personal opinion is that the EPWR is superior to the AP1000, but it will not stand a chance in the USA due to domestic considerations.
The one good thing is though that the world is starting new plants.

 

[racookpe1978]

I like Russia's "standardized-power-on-a-barge" concept for 4 plants to be built for river barges anchored in Siberian rivers.

Standardized plants, built in the same location will save 30% for the third and fourth models - compared to the one-of-a-kind built locally at 4 different sites by 4 different labor crews. We've used standardized reactors since 1955 for the USN, and the Russians have comparable experience: our carrier plants are slightly smaller than large civilian nukes, but not that much smaller that matters of scaleand component size matter.

Containment on a "barge" compared to the conventional large concrete buildings? It's Russia - They "could" built adequate containments if they wanted to.

 

[GRoberts]

Ubbe,

FYI, the UK government puts the EPR at 1660 MWe, and the AP1000 at 1170 MWe. So that is only 33% more.

http://www.hse.gov.uk/newreactors/reports.htm

Also, I believe that Areva wishes the ERP only cost 20% more. The link below only puts the EPR at 25% over budget, but it is a little bit dated. It is yet to be seen how much the AP1000 really costs.

http://www.energy-net.org/IS/EN/NUKE/REACT/FED/NEWS/07905297.TXT

The EPR is not a fully safety passive design as is the AP1000. We will probably have to wait 20-30 years to find out what was the better deal after all.

However, don’t say that the EPR won’t compete in the USA. Have you seen the NRC website? Anybody can compete in the USA based on price, which isn’t always the best solution.

http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-reactors/col.html

What you won’t see ever happen is an AP1000 in France or Russia.

 

[EdStainless]

1. You can 't sell major equipment in China without selling them rights to the design. Otherwise they won't buy from you. period.
2. the first plants built in China will be as well built as any in the world. they are importing everything that is critical. Hell, they can afford to.
3. The Chinese are already building a Chinese Standard plant based on the French design.

The Progress Energy plant won't be built at Levy County. They would need to get a brand new site approved. They already have sites that have operating Nucs, and were designed for more units than are on them. This is a ruse to avoid saying where they really want to build.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Plymouth Tube

 

[vpl]

The Progress Energy plant won't be built at Levy County. They would need to get a brand new site approved. They already have sites that have operating Nucs, and were designed for more units than are on them. This is a ruse to avoid saying where they really want to build.

If it's a ruse, they're sure spending a lot of money for no avail. No matter where they decide to build, they need to let the NRC know in order to get their construction permit. Right now, their application says "Levy County." If they really want it on one of their other sites, they'd have to revise the application. That's not cheap.

Patricia Lougheed

Please see FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies for tips on how to make the best use of the Eng-Tips Forums.

 

[ncarolinageo]

As someone who is in the know on this one, the project will go in Levy county and is well underway. Progress Energy cannot build any further unit as the Crystal River site, and chose the Levy County site after a year-long site selection process that looked at at least 3 other sites in Florida.