July-August 2018 NPJ

10 NuclearPlantJournal.com Nuclear Plant Journal, July-August 2018 New Energy Bellefonte 1 Enercon Services, Inc. has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with SNC-Lavalin to support the completion of Bellefonte Unit 1 Nuclear Generating Station in Hollywood, AL, once the acquisition of the facility is complete. Nuclear Development, LLC successfully bid to acquire the unfinished facility from Tennessee Valley Authority late in 2016 with plans to complete construction and operate the facility in Alabama. SNC-Lavalin, which recently signed a letter of agreement with Nuclear Development, LLC to provide Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) services to complete construction, chose ENERCON as a partner on this multi-year project because of its long history of providing engineering and consulting services to the nuclear power generating industry. Contact: Wendy Lambert, Enercon Services, Inc., telephone: (813) 962-1800 x 212, email: wlambert@enercon.com. Taishan 1 Taishan Nuclear Power Plant Unit 1 has been successfully connected to the Chinese grid on June 29, 2018. After the first criticality reached on June 6, this is the first EPR reactor worldwide to be producing electricity. The EPR technology designed and developed by Framatome is based on the strong track record of the company in the field of nuclear new builds, both in France and abroad. As a Generation III+ reactor it represents further progress in plant safety and attains very competitive operational costs at the same time. The Taishan project is one of the largest cooperation projects in the energy sector between China and France. China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN), EDF and Guangdong Yudian Group invested jointly in the Taishan Nuclear Power Plant. Framatome has contributed major parts of the plant’s nuclear scope including nuclear steam supply system, safety instrumentation & control, procurement and support to erection and commissioning. Contact: Framatome Press Office, telephone: 33 (0) 1 34 96 41 34, email: press@framatome.com . ARPA-E Funding The U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency- Energy (ARPA-E) awarded General Atomics (GA) a total of nearly $3 million in funding to continue development of two key technologies associated with GA’s Energy Multiplier Module (EM2) concept. The awards are part of ARPA-E’s Modeling-Enhanced Innovations Trailblazing Nuclear Energy Reinvigoration (MEITNER) program, which is providing up to $24 million to support development of advanced nuclear energy. Since 2009, GA has been developing the EM2 advanced reactor concept, which addresses the four core challenges facing nuclear energy – safety, waste, cost and non-proliferation. The first ARPA-E award of approximately $1.45 million will focus on design and optimization of the reactor’s innovative power conversion system, which uses a high-speed, helium- driven Brayton cycle turbine operating at variable super-synchronous speeds. This technology, which is also applicable to other advanced reactor designs, will enable nuclear plant efficiencies that are competitive (in excess of 50 percent) with modern gas turbine plants. The system will also greatly improve flexibility and load following – features that are essential for future nuclear plants operating on a grid with large amounts of variable wind and solar generation. The work will be conducted in collaboration with the University of Texas – Arlington and Sandia National Laboratories. The second award, for $1.53 million, will be used to develop modular methods for large-scale concrete construction, which holds the promise to significantly cut plant construction timelines. GA’s innovation combines strengthened modular components with post- tensioning pre-stressing by aligning high- strength continuous-fiber tendons within the concrete and applying a tensile load. Because it offers the ability to produce large-scale structures without temporary external supports, this technology has the potential to greatly reduce nuclear plant construction time as well as overall costs. The development will be performed in collaboration with the University of California, San Diego. Contact: Zabrina Johal, General Atomics, telephone: (858) 455-4004, email: zabrina.johal@ga.com . Haiyang Unit 1 Westinghouse Electric Company and its customers, China State Nuclear Power Technology Corporation (SNPTC) and Shangdong Nuclear Power Company Limited (SDNPC) announced that Haiyang Unit 1, the AP1000 nuclear power plant located in Haiyang, Shandong Province, China, has begun to load fuel. Fuel load at Haiyang Unit 1 commenced on June 21, 2018. Earlier this summer, in preparation for fuel load, Haiyang Unit 1 successfully completed the necessary testing and regulatory reviews conducted by China’s National Nuclear Safety Administration (NNSA). Haiyang Unit 1 met all the criteria, confirming the capability of Westinghouse’s AP1000 technology. The plant’s start-up process includes the completed testing phase, the currently occurring fuel load, initial criticality and synchronization to the electrical grid including ascension to 100 percent power. Testing will be performed throughout these phases to ensure safe plant operations until the unit successfully achieves 100 percent power. Contact: Sarah Cassella, Westinghouse Electric Company, telephone: (412) 374-4744, email: cassels@westinghouse.com. Sanmen 1 Westinghouse Electric Company , China State Nuclear Power Technology Corporation (SNPTC) announced that the world’s first AP1000 nuclear power plant located in Sanmen, Zhejiang Province, China has successfully completed initial criticality.