10
NuclearPlantJournal.com Nuclear Plant Journal, May-June 2015
New Energy
Fermi
DTE Energy
received approval from
the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
(NRC) for a license to construct and
operate a new nuclear energy facility on
the site of the existing Fermi 2 Nuclear
Power Plant in Newport, Michigan. The
company has not committed to building
the new plant, but will keep the option
open for long-term planning purposes.
“With this license, DTE Energy
now possesses the most diverse,
comprehensive slate of options to plan for
Michigan’s energy future,” said Steven
Kurmas, DTE Energy’s president and
chief operating officer. “The potential
of additional nuclear energy gives us the
option of reliable, base-load, generation
that does not emit greenhouse gases.”
The decision by the NRC caps a
comprehensive, six-year process that
examined the technical, safety and
environmental aspects of the potential
unit. DTE Energy has referenced the GE
Hitachi ESBWR (Economic Simplified
Boiling Water Reactor) as the unit that
would be built on the site. The ESBWR
is an advanced design that the NRC
certified in November 2014.
Contact: Guy Cerullo, telephone:
(734) 586-4167.
Vogtle
Westinghouse Electric Company
safely delivered approximately 200 tons
of reactor vessel components to the
Vogtle Electric Generating Plant near
Waynesboro, Georgia (U.S.), site of two
AP1000
®
nuclear power plant units under
construction, on April 28, 2015.
The completion of this milestone
culminated a steadfast effort to fabricate
and ship the reactor vessel internals
(RVIs) from the Westinghouse Nuclear
Components Manufacturing facility
in Newington, New Hampshire, to the
Vogtle new-plant site.
The RVIs were transported on two
shipping skids, one with the components
that comprise the lower internals (114
tons) of the nuclear reactor, and one with
the components for the upper internals
(85 tons) of the reactor. The shipment
was flawlessly executed, utilizing the
Ports of Portsmouth and Savannah as
well as land routes to and from the port
locations.
The primary functions of the RVIs
are to support and stabilize the core
within the reactor vessel, provide the path
for coolant flow and guide movement of
the control rods.
Contact: telephone: (412) 374-6379,
China
Construction of China’s first two
CAP1400 reactors at Shidaowan in
Shandong province awaits final approval.
However, site preparations for the units
are well advanced with the pouring of
concrete for the foundations of the first
unit’s conventional island having now
begun.
The first concrete for the turbine
building of the first CAP1400 unit at the
site was poured April 25, State Nuclear
Power Technology Corporation (SNPTC)
announced.
The operation is being treated as a
trial run for when the concrete is poured
for the unit’s nuclear island, SNPTC said.
The CAP1400 is an enlarged version
of the AP1000 pressurized water reactor
developed from the Westinghouse
original by SNPTC with consulting input
from the Toshiba-owned company. As
one of China’s 16 strategic projects under
its National Science and Technology
Development Plan, the CAP1400 is
intended to be deployed in large numbers
across the country. The reactor design
may also be exported.
Huaneng Group’s Shidaowan site is
part of a larger Rongcheng Nuclear Power
Industrial Park, at which two prototype
105 MWe HTR-PM small modular
reactors are already under construction.
Source:
World Nuclear News
,
website:
Korea
The second unit of the Shin Wolsong
plant has successfully completed a test
run at 100% output, plant owner Korea
Hydro and Nuclear Power (KHNP)
announced. The reactor is set to enter
commercial operation later in 2015.
Following completion of the 100%
power ascension test, the reactor has
now been taken offline for 52 days for
maintenance. After additional tests and
inspections, the unit will be restarted in
mid-June 2015. KHNP aims to begin
commercial operation of the unit in July
2015.
Fuel loading began at the 1050 MWe
OPR-1000 reactor on November 14, 2014
after South Korea’s Nuclear Safety and
Security Commission issued an operating
license to KHNP for the reactor. The unit
was subsequently connected to the grid
on February 26, 2015.
ConstructionbeganonShinWolsong2
in 2008 and was completed in 2013, but
the NSSC withheld permission for the
reactor to start up following a discovery
in May 2013 that safety-related control
cabling with falsified documentation
had been installed at four reactors. The
Nuclear Safety and Security Commission
(NSSC) approved the restart of the other
affected reactors - Shin Kori units 1 and
2 and Shin Wolsong unit 1 - in January
2014 after the completion of recabling
work.
Source:
World Nuclear News
,
website:
Turkey
Government and company officials
launched construction of Turkey’s first
nuclear power plant. The Russian-
designed Akkuyu plant in Mersin, on the
Mediterranean coast, is the first nuclear
power plants the country plans to build
to help boost its economy and reduce its
dependence on fossil fuel imports.
Construction work is expected to
begin on the first of Akkuyu’s four 1200
MWe Gidropress-designed AES-2006
VVER pressurized water reactors in 2014
or 2015. The plant is being financed by
Russia according to a build-own-operate
model, under an intergovernmental
agreement signed by Turkey and Russia
in 2010. The project is expected to be
completed in 2020.
Turkish Energy Minister TanerY
ı
ld
ı
z
and Rosatom director general Sergey
Kirienko laid the foundation stone for the
construction of the plant in a ceremony to
herald the start of the $22 billion project.
Source:
World Nuclear News
,
website:
