Babcock & Wilcox SMR test facility now operational

Below is a press release from Babcock & Wilcox.

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B&W’s Small Modular Reactor Integrated System Test Facility Achieves Full Operating Conditions

(CHARLOTTE, N.C. – July 18, 2012) –The Babcock & Wilcox Company (B&W) (NYSE:BWC) announced today that its B&W mPower™ reactor Integrated System Test (IST) facility has achieved full operating conditions. The IST is the world’s only operational, design-specific test facility for a small modular reactor design.

Christofer M. Mowry, President of Babcock & Wilcox mPower, Inc., said, “Technology validation facilities like the IST are critical to our country’s ability to bring an innovative nuclear reactor to market and help meet the growing power generation needs of the U.S. and the world. This facility is an example of American ingenuity at work and demonstrates that a U.S. company can create high-tech jobs at home while producing a product that has worldwide appeal.”

The IST is a purpose-built, full-scale facility designed and built to test and evaluate the B&W mPower reactor’s design and performance. The reactor is heated electrically in order to simulate the energy generated by a real nuclear core. IST construction started in March of 2010, and it was commissioned in February 2012.

Since its commissioning, the facility has undergone a rigorous start-up test and power ascension program that has now culminated in achieving full reactor operating pressure and temperature conditions for both the primary and secondary systems. The IST has already gathered critical data regarding the B&W mPower integral reactor, with plans to focus on the thermal hydraulic performance of the unique B&W once through steam generator next.

The facility is located at the Center for Advanced Engineering and Research in Bedford County, Va.

About B&W

Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., The Babcock & Wilcox Company is a leader in clean energy technology and services, primarily for the nuclear, fossil and renewable power markets, as well as a premier advanced technology and mission critical defense contractor. B&W has locations worldwide and employs approximately 12,700 people, in addition to approximately 10,400 joint venture employees. Learn more at www.babcock.com.

# # #

Media Contact:

Jud Simmons

Public Relations Manager

434.522.6462 » hjsimmons@babcock.com

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10:20 AM Eastern 7/18/2012
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Perry Nuclear Power Plant: New Emergency Ops Facility

Below is a press release from FirstEnergy.

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Perry Nuclear Power Plant Completes New Emergency Operations Facility

AKRON, Ohio, July 17, 2012 -- FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company (FENOC), a subsidiary of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE), today announced that construction of the Emergency Operations Facility for its Perry Nuclear Power Plant has been completed.

The new 12,000-square-foot facility supports overall management of activities related to maintaining public health and safety during the unlikely event of an emergency at the plant. The facility also will be used by Perry's emergency response organization during quarterly training drills and bi-annual exercises evaluated by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to assist our preparedness to respond to an emergency.

"The new Emergency Operations Facility underscores Perry and FENOC's commitment to protecting public health and safety, and supports timely and efficient communications with emergency responders in the unlikely event of an emergency at the plant," said Vito Kaminskas, vice president of Perry Nuclear Power Plant.

Features of the new state-of-the-art Emergency Operations Facility include: enhanced technologies that aid in timely monitoring and collection of environmental data; a secured, online database for sharing plant conditions and other event information in real time between company, local, county and state emergency responders; updated computer equipment; and diverse telecommunications technology to enhance communications capabilities. In addition, multiple power supplies are designed to ensure the facility will not be affected by a power failure.

Located in Concord, Ohio, the facility replaces an existing Emergency Operations Facility located on site at the Perry plant.

FirstEnergy is a diversified energy company headquartered in Akron, Ohio. Its FENOC subsidiary also operates the Beaver Valley Power Plant in Shippingport, Pa., and the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station in Oak Harbor, Ohio.

www.firstenergycorp.com

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Below, a photo from the APR collection which was distributed over ten years ago with public relations materials and plant specs. This photo shows the Perry Nuclear Power Plant, with Unit 1 nearer the camera (this is the unit closer to Lake Erie.) The other unit, Unit 2 was suspended when about 45% complete and has never been finished.

Perry Unit 1 is a GE BWR/6 reactor in a Mk III containment building. The plant was originally rated at 1205 MWe but has been uprated more than once so that, today, the plant's rating is 1260 MWe.

9:20 PM Eastern 7/17/2012
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San Onofre S/G tube wear - July 13 Press Release

Below is a press release from Southern California Edison.

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Southern California Edison Releases Steam Generator Tube Wear Data

July 13, 2012

Media contact: Media Relations, (626) 302-2255
Investor relations contact: Scott Cunningham, (626) 302-2540

ROSEMEAD, Calif., July 13, 2012 — Southern California Edison (SCE) has released steam generator tube wear data associated with the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The data show that most of the wear, or tube wall thinning, was less than 20 percent. This is far below the 35 percent wall-thinning limit, which would require that the tube be plugged. The majority of this wear is related to support structures. The nature of the support structure wear is not unusual in new steam generators and is part of the equipment settling in.

“We’re using this information and additional detailed data collected through testing to develop our repair plans according to best practices and industry standards, particularly the data on the unexpected tube-to-tube wear,” said Senior Vice President and Chief Nuclear Officer Pete Dietrich. “Safety continues to be the guiding principle behind all the work we are doing.”

The data include the various types of wear on the tubes and the number of tubes affected.

There were three major categories of wear: anti-vibration bar wear, tube support plate wear and tube-to-tube wear. Two minor categories of wear were also included: retainer bar wear and wear due to a foreign object. The foreign object wear, also not unusual in new steam generators, was only found in Unit 2 and was caused by a piece of welding material about the size of a quarter rubbing against two tubes.


•In Unit 2, 1,595 tubes showed wear of some type and 510 tubes were ultimately plugged — six tubes for showing wear of more than 35 percent and the rest for preventative measures.
•In Unit 3, 1,806 tubes showed wear of some type and 807 tubes were ultimately plugged — 381 tubes for wear of more than 35 percent and the rest for preventative measures.

The complete data for both units is available on the commission website for SONGS information: www.nrc.gov/info-finder/reactor/songs/tube-degradation.html.

Both units of the plant are currently safely shut down for inspections, analysis and tests. Unit 2 was taken out of service Jan. 9 for a planned outage. Unit 3 was safely taken offline Jan. 31 after station operators detected a leak in a steam generator tube. The units will remain shut down until SCE and the commission are satisfied that the units are safe to operate.

About Southern California Edison
An Edison International (NYSE:EIX) company, Southern California Edison is one of the nation’s largest electric utilities, serving a population of nearly 14 million via 4.9 million customer accounts in a 50,000-square-mile service area within Central, Coastal and Southern California.

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Additionally, SCE has released the statement on a pdf; click here.

Note also that the SCE release includes a direct link to the new NRC oversight page constructed to cover the SONGS steam generator issues.

12:42 PM Eastern 7/17/2012
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Ohi No. 4 startup and modifications

KEPCO (Kansai Electric Power Company) intends to commence reactor startup at its Ohi No. 4 plant, located in Fukui Prefecture, Japan, on Wednesday July 18th, according to KEPCO's press release. The reactor is expected to achieve criticality on the 19th, and KEPCO expects to synchronize the generator with the grid on Saturday, July 21st and have the plant at full power by the 25th. At present, Ohi No. 3 continues to operate without fault and is indicating 101% rated power.

KEPCO has carried out a number of modifications and improvements to the Ohi No. 4 plant, which is a Mitsubishi 4-loop PWR plant presently rated at 3423 MWt and 1180 MWe net. The turbine generator has been upgraded, with integral one-piece forged turbine rotors being installed in the low pressure cylinders, new 'fully three dimensional' turbine blades of Mitsubishi's latest design and last stage blading of 54" size. These improvements are expected to increase power output by 3%-4% and will improve resistance to wear and corrosion. The blading also has Mitsubishi's latest ISB or Integrally Shrouded Blade design (which this author learned about at Mitsubishi's booth at the recent DD&R/ICAPP Exhibition concurrent with the ANS Annual Meeting.)

In the primary plant, shock damping has been improved by way of improved mountings for heavy equipment such as the main steam lines. Internally to the reactor plant, changes have been made in the seal welds on pressurizer primary connection and on relief valve lines, with Inconel 690 replacing the previous Inconel 600 weld material. KEPCO states that stress corrosion cracking in other plants was the driving force behind replacing these welded connections.

The plant has also received the latest model of digital control and indication equipment, considered necessary due to the obsolescence of the previously installed equipment (discontinued parts being the stated major problem.) According to KEPCO the entire control and indication as well as the protective logic are all new.

Eddy current inspection of the U-tubes in two steam generators (B loop and D loop) was conducted with no abnormalities found. Secondary plant pipe wall thickness measurements were made at 965 different locations as well.

It might go without saying, but during the shutdown the reactor was refuelled along normal lines with some new fuel inserted and some elements shuffled.

Finally, post-Fukushima special inspections included (but were not limited to) inspections of the spent fuel pool, its cooling system, and physical integrity as well as the ECCS or Emergency Core Cooling System including turbine-driven pumps.

Keep an eye on the APR Twitter feed (@atomicnews) for notifications of the startup of Ohi No. 4.

11:42 AM Eastern 7/17/2012
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Westinghouse / Vitkovice Partnership (press release) and Russian (Soviet) steam generators

Below is a press release from Westinghouse Electric.

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Westinghouse Confirms Strategically Important Partnership With Czech Firm Vitkovice

-- Partnership Covers Manufacturing and Installation of Modules for Proposed New Temelin Nuclear Power Plants

-- Westinghouse Vice President for EMEA Business & Development: "Deeper cooperation with Vitkovice will Further Strengthen Westinghouse's Local Supply Chain and Open New Opportunities for Exports Across the Region"


PRAGUE, July 9, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Westinghouse Electric Company today confirmed an important strategic partnership with Czech company Vitkovice a.s., in preparation for the potential construction of Westinghouse AP1000® nuclear power plants in the Czech Republic.

In accordance with the partnership, Vitkovice will join the Westinghouse/Toshiba/Metrostav team to jointly offer as a potential fabricator of key structural and mechanical equipment modules, should the AP1000 reactor be selected to complete the expansion of the Temelin Nuclear Power Plant. The AP1000 has been designed to make use of modern modular-construction techniques, which allow many more construction activities to proceed in parallel. This reduces the calendar time for plant construction, thereby reducing the cost of money and the exposure risks associated with plant financing. These construction techniques are already being utilized with great success in the U.S. and China. This potential scope of supply represents a very significant percentage of the total plant construction.

The strategic partnership marks a further important milestone in Westinghouse's ongoing activities to develop and subsequently deliver a highly competitive tender to CEZ, for the construction of two AP1000 reactors at the Temelin site in the South Bohemian region of the country. It follows a number of important exclusive Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) between Westinghouse and major Czech companies, notably I&C Energo and Metrostav, in an effort to establish a strong, diverse and high-quality local supply chain. This new partnership builds on existing cooperation with Vitkovice, which includes a December 2011 MOU to explore opportunities to manufacture key components.

Speaking for Westinghouse, Vice President, EMEA Business & Development, Randy Galm said:

"This strategically important partnership with Vitkovice, to fabricate and install modules for the proposed new Temelin nuclear power plants, clearly illustrates Westinghouse's deep commitment to localization in the Czech Republic. Supply development is critical to Westinghouse and that's why we think 'globally' but act 'locally.' The successful delivery of these modules will also help the power plants are built on time and on budget.

"The fabrication of these important modules in the Czech Republic also represents an excellent opportunity for both Westinghouse and Vitkovice to eventually export these components throughout Europe, in anticipation of additional AP1000 reactors being built, thereby strengthening our regional supply chain base further and providing important additional opportunities to Vitkovice and other Czech manufacturing companies."

Jan Svetlik, Vitkovice a.s. chairman of the Board of Directors and president of the Czech Machinery Cluster, said:

"VITKOVICE MACHINERY GROUP has a long tradition supplying to the nuclear energy industry, both at home and abroad, with current annual orders in excess of several billion Czech crowns. The members of the Czech Machinery Cluster are also ready to participate in new opportunities and challenges in the industry. A qualified supply chain consisting of over 3000 trained and experienced individuals is ready to participate in the opportunities from the Temelin 3 & 4 project. VITKOVICE MACHINERY GROUP, as well as all the other member companies of the Czech Machinery Cluster, has long-term intentions to participate in the nuclear industry. Vitkovice is prepared not only for cooperation in the Temelin 3 & 4 project, but also on worldwide projects."

The Westinghouse AP1000 reactor received Final Design Certification from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on December 22, 2011. Earlier that same month, the AP1000 was issued interim design approval in the Generic Design Assessment (GDA) process by U.K. Office for Nuclear Regulation. The AP1000 is also compliant with European Utility Requirements (EUR), confirming that it can be successfully deployed in Europe. To date, contracts for 10 AP1000 reactors have been placed around the world – four in China and six in the U.S. Construction recently commenced on four units in the U.S. after utilities there received their combined construction and operating licenses (COL) in February and March 2012 respectively. Construction on all four Chinese AP1000 units is progressing well and remains on schedule, with the first unit at Sanmen on track to produce electricity by the end of 2013.

Westinghouse Electric Company, a group company of Toshiba Corporation (TKY: 6502), is the world's pioneering nuclear energy company and is a leading supplier of nuclear plant products and technologies to utilities throughout the world. Westinghouse supplied the world's first pressurized water reactor in 1957 in Shippingport, Pennsylvania. Today, Westinghouse technology is the basis for approximately one-half of the world's operating nuclear plants, including the design and supply of over 25 commercial nuclear units across Europe.

VITKOVICE is member of the VITKOVICE MACHINERY GROUP, the most important Czech engineering group with a strong position in selected segments of machinery production and in the area of supplies of large investment assemblies. It incorporates approximately thirty companies. The group consists of a modern, extensive and unique production base, coupled with substantial know-how based on research and development. The VITKOVICE trade mark celebrated its 180th anniversary in December 2008. VITKOVICE MACHINERY GROUP is an important supplier of components for nuclear power plants. Pressurizers and steam generators manufactured in VITKOVICE serve in the Czech nuclear plants at Temelin and Dukovany, and also in other nuclear power plants outside the country, for example in Slovakia, Russia and India.

SOURCE Westinghouse Electric Company
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Click here for Vitkovice Machinery Group's English language home page.

Click here to see Vitkovice Power Engineering's page on nuclear power plant components. Various photos of components and descriptions are shown on this page. The components (steam generators, or parogenerátorù, and pressurizers, or Kompenzátory objemu) are shown along with indication of the type of nuclear plant for which they were built (the older VVER-440 plant or the new, much larger VVER-1000 plant) and the location of the plant for which they were built. Temelin, subject of the recent arrangements concerning Westinghouse, has two VVER-1000 plants.

Most readers will note that the photos of steam generators do not look anything like those used in the USA, Japan, Korea or China. This is because the Soviet PWR plants by and large used horizontal steam generators which did not have a massive tube sheet and vertical tube bundles, but a central manifold type arrangement and two horizontal tube bundles. This arrangement was settled on after very early testing by the Soviet engineers indicated what appeared to be intractable problems with vertical, U-tube type steam generators; although horizontal type steam generators such as this tend to be less satisfactory in some characteristics pound for pound (including output and ability to separate steam for dry output) they have such improved corrosion resistance that most Soviet-era PWR plants (which are called "VVER" plants) were built with this style.

There were two basic widely-built designs of VVER plant manufactured by the former USSR and later Russia (sometimes with licensee assistance, such as in the example of Skoda in Czechoslovakia.) The VVER-440 plant had one reactor, six horizontal steam generators, and two turbine generators. Each VVER-440 was rated originally 1375 MWt and 440 MWe net. This design was first completed in 1971, with one unit at Novovoronezh. In the full normal production version of the design, a single nuclear power plant of VVER-440 type had four reactors and their associated plants in one installation.

The VVER-1000 plant as originally designed had one reactor, four steam generators and originally two turbine generators; later, very large single unit turbine generators were developed (after no small amount of R&D on last-stage blading problems.) The VVER-1000 was originally rated roughly 3300 MWt and 1000 MWe net. These reactors are almost always seen installed in single units like Western style plants, but of course with multiple units side by side on the same site. Again, the first unit of this type went on line at Novovoronezh, but in 1980.

Now that we've briefly (and very basically) delineated these two plant types, let's look briefly at those odd looking steam generators a bit more closely.

From "Soviet Nuclear Power Plants," David Katsman / Delphic Associates 1986 we display two illustrations of horizontal type steam generators such as were very widely employed in Soviet / Russian PWR plants of type VVER-440 and similarly in type VVER-1000. First, a view showing the steam generator of a VVER-440 plant without the U-tubes.

In this style of steam generator, the inlet and outlet plenums are two separate vertical cylinders built into the steam generator near the center. The many hundreds of U-tubes (normally austenitic stainless steel in most Soviet era plants) are piped to each of these, and run horizontally in each direction. "1" on the diagram's lower illustration shows the primary circuit outlet plenum path. "5" is the connection for one of the steam generator water level detectors. Right below that level is the normal high water level; the many cylindrical objects seen at roughly the height of "5" on the diagram but inside the steam generator are the primary moisture separators of centrifugal type. Baffle type separators are located above these. The five outlets on the top are the steam outlets.

Below, an illustration of a similar design which shows the U-tubes.

Many details of steam generator design and secondary side chemistry control are given in the volume "Soviet Nuclear Power Plants," but for sake of brevity I will just briefly detail the design principles behind these odd-looking but quite functional steam generators.

Soviet assistance with the first plant at Reinsburg, in the former East Germany, which was a PWR type plant with vertical steam generator design having a heavy tube sheet revealed numerous problems with sludge, with various types of corrosion and physical damage that the Soviet engineers felt should not be controlled or mitigated by chemistry control or by blowdown, but rather should be completely designed out. This led to the type of steam generator seen above, with vertical cylindrical inlet and outlet plenum design to which are piped the many 1Kh18N9T stainless steel tubes. This design eliminates all problems in steam generators that are directly associated with the installation of a tube sheet, vertical tubes and natural circulation internal flow (on the secondary side.) However, one fault area that both this type and the vertical type do have in common is problems with support plates, since both employ spaced support plates along the length of the tube bundles for support and alignment. Also, the vertical plenum design is itself susceptible to larger scale corrosion cracking just like the U-tubes are.

Beyond this, the horizontal model of steam generator has poorer steam separation capability when compared to vertical steam generators because of the extremely cramped area above the tube bundle for steam separation equipment. Also, according to Katsman, the steam load is "highly irregular" along the evaporative surfaces, which might lead to problems never seen in vertical tube steam generators. For these reasons, the Soviets (prior to collapse of the USSR) designed yet another style of steam generator for VVER plants which was vertical but still did not have a solid heavy tube sheet. Apparently production of this newer style steam generator had already been initiated around 1982, but did not enter wide service as today's VVER-1000 plants have horizontal steam generators. The newest design for the VVER-1200 also has four horizontal steam generators. These can be seen in this ROSATOM presentation.

Click here to see a well done general presentation by ROSATOM on present nuclear power plant projects and construction of the first 1200 MW units, including horizontal steam generators.

APR Note: The plants being discussed for Temelin by Westinghouse are AP1000 plants - these are the subject of the press release that leads off this post. The ROSATOM proposal is for VVER-1200 plants. The unusual appearance of the steam generators in the linked website for Vitkovice and the general recent interest in steam generators by the public as a result of various problems at San Onofre lead to my digression on the subject of horizontal steam generator design and history.

10:55 AM Eastern 7/10/2012
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Westinghouse bids for Czech Republic (press release)

Below is a press release from Westinghouse Electric.

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Westinghouse Submits Bid For AP1000® Plants In Czech Republic

-- Competitive Bid to CEZ Delivers Turnkey Dual-unit AP1000 Plant to Complete Temelin Project

PRAGUE, July 2, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Westinghouse Electric Company today announced that it has submitted a fully compliant and competitive bid to CEZ, a. s. to develop and deliver a turnkey dual-unit AP1000 plant for completing the Temelin Nuclear Power Plant Units 3 and 4 Project.

Westinghouse is eager to build upon its demonstrated success in the Czech Republic on Temelin Units 1 and 2. And, with more than 50 years of worldwide experience leading the nuclear industry, including current construction projects in the U.S. and China based on the advanced and certified AP1000 standard plant design, Westinghouse is confident in meeting the design, supply, construction, licensing and project criteria established by CEZ for the completion of the Temelin Project.

"Westinghouse's proposal meets or exceeds all mandatory requirements established in the Temelin Tender to provide CEZ with the most economically advantageous proposal," said Westinghouse Electric Company interim President and CEO Shigenori Shiga. "We are proud of the significant effort and investment we have made over the past 20 years to develop the AP1000 and are confident that CEZ will benefit from the safest and most reliable next generation nuclear plant built available on the worldwide marketplace, and at the overall lowest total installed and operating costs. We now look forward to working collaboratively and actively with CEZ throughout the evaluation and negotiation phases to further refine the bid and details of the project to ultimately achieve a mutually acceptable agreement for completing the project."

Westinghouse has formed a winning delivery team by bringing together the proven design and construction skills of Westinghouse and Toshiba Corporation, combined with the leading Czech construction company Metrostav a.s and Czech nuclear safety instrumentation and control company, I&C Energo s.r.o. The Westinghouse/Czech team will continue to add local partners in the coming weeks and months that will not only bring benefits to the Czech economy, but, just as importantly, complete Temelin at the highest of international standards while achieving schedule and budget commitments. As the AP1000 pressurized water reactor (PWR) is the most advanced nuclear plant design in the world, significant engineering, construction and manufacturing expertise will be transferred to Czech companies, providing substantial opportunities in future nuclear plant projects throughout the world.

Safety is at the epicentre of any nuclear project. The AP1000 design is the only PWR design that includes advanced passive safety systems and extensive plant simplifications to enhance plant safety, construction, assembly, operation and maintenance. The plant design also uses proven, standardized technology, which is based on 50 years of operating PWR experience

The Westinghouse AP1000 reactor received Design Certification Amendment from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in December 2011. Earlier that same month, the AP1000 was issued Interim Design Approval in the Generic Design Assessment (GDA) process from the U.K. Office for Nuclear Regulation. The AP1000 nuclear power plant is also compliant with European Utility Requirements (EUR), confirming that it can be successfully deployed in Europe. Moreover, the AP1000 PWR is the only Generation III+ design in the world to have received both U.S. and European regulatory approvals.

Currently, contracts for 10 AP1000 reactors have been placed around the world: four in China and six in the U.S. Nuclear safety construction recently commenced on four AP1000 units in the U.S. after utilities there received combined construction and operating licenses (COL) from the U.S. NRC. First concrete pour is scheduled to occur on the first two AP1000 units in late summer to early fall. In China, construction of the four AP1000 units there is progressing well and remains on schedule, with the first AP1000 unit on track to produce electricity by the end of 2013.

Westinghouse Electric Company, a group company of Toshiba Corporation (TKY: 6502), is the world's pioneering nuclear energy company and is a leading supplier of nuclear plant products and technologies to utilities throughout the world. Westinghouse supplied the world's first pressurized water reactor in 1957 in Shippingport, Pennsylvania. Today, Westinghouse technology is the basis for approximately one-half of the world's operating nuclear plants, including the design and supply of more than 25 commercial nuclear units across Europe.

SOURCE Westinghouse Electric Company

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1:45 PM Eastern 7/2/2012
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Ohi No. 3 pulling rods

NHK World Television has announced confirmation by Kansai Electric Power Company (Japan) that rod withdrawal has commenced at Ohi No. 3 reactor plant at roughly 9:02 PM local time Sunday (this is 8:02 AM Eastern in the United States.)

Kansai Electric indicates that Ohi No. 3 will be on the grid on Monday and will ramp up to full rated power over four days.

Ohi No. 3 is a four-loop Mitsubishi PWR plant rated 3423 MWt / 1127 MWe.

8:08 AM Eastern 7/1/2012
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