www.modernpowersystems.com
September 2007 Modern Power Systems
NUCLEAR POWER
O
n 24 July Westinghouse Electric
Company (now owned by Toshiba) and
its consortium partner, the Shaw Group,
signed landmark contracts with China's
State Nuclear Power Technology Corporation Ltd
(SNPTC), Sanmen Nuclear Power Company Ltd,
Shandong Nuclear Power Company Ltd, and
China National Technical Import & Export
Corporation (CNTIC) to provide four AP1000
nuclear power plants in China. These are the first
orders ever placed for Generation III+ reactors,
with the potential to take China into a nuclear
technology leadership role over the coming years.
Assuming these first AP1000 projects go well the
prospects for more look good, particularly with
the Chinese government's stated aim of pursuing
nuclear power more "actively" (while developing
gas fired generation only "moderately"). SNPTC
has been set up specifically to establish the
AP1000 in China, including technology transfer,
while CGNPC (China Guangdong Nuclear Power
Holding Co, a subsidiary of China Guangdong
Nuclear Power Group (CGNPG)) has said it has
under "preparation" the construction of five or six
AP1000 units.
The comprehensive agreements signed in July
came five months after the signing of framework
accords that confirmed the basic requirements
and obligations of all parties involved. As a result
of those earlier agreements, preliminary design,
engineering and long-lead procurement work
was already underway.
SNPTC announced in December 2006 that it
had selected the Westinghouse consortium and
the AP1000 technology. Original bids for the four
plants were submitted by Westinghouse and
others competing for the project in February 2005.
The four plants are to be constructed in pairs at
the Sanmen (Zhejiang) and Haiyang (Shandong)
sites. Construction is expected to begin in 2009,
with the first plant becoming operational in late
2013. The remaining three plants are expected to
come on line in 2014 and 2015.
Under a subcontract with Westinghouse,
Doosan of Korea (which is very