Westinghouse Electric Company said Thursday that its nuclear fuel facility in Columbia, South Carolina, the Columbia Fuel Fabrication Facility, had reached a business milestone, having completed its 100,000th nuclear fuel assembly.
The milestone has two critical ramifications — let's call them bragging points. First, it is a world record for pressurized water reactor (PWR) fuel assembly fabrication, and performance, the company said in a statement.
Secondly, the achievement represents critical savings in carbon emissions.
Further the one facility can claim to be responsible for fuel that generates about 10 percent of all U.S. electricity generation.
Westinghouse Chief Executive Officer Danny Roderick said the world leaders in Paris, meeting to discuss global climate change, need to look no further than facilities like the South Carolina fuel plant for answers. “Our world leaders have been meeting in Paris to discuss necessary carbon emission reductions at COP21 and the answers are right here in places like Columbia, S.C., where the fuel we make for the world’s safest operating fleet are saving this planet every day," he said.
The 100,000 fuel assemblies that have come out of the plant have created power that avoids about 7.3 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions if that same amount of energy was produced with natural gas, or 12.7 billion metric tons if produced with coal, Roderick said.
The Columbia site produces fuel-related products and services for 13 countries. José Emeterio Gutiérrez, Westinghouse senior vice president, Nuclear Fuel and Components Manufacturing, said the facility's track record also includes recognition from the National Safety Council for high safety standards.