Nuclear power plant component specialist Curtiss-Wright Corporation said Wednesday that it had been awarded contracts with a potential value of half a billion dollars, including incentives, by Harbin Electric Power Equipment Company Ltd. And Shenyang Blower Works Nuclear Pump Company for the delivery of sixteen reactor coolant pumps supporting AP1000 plant sites in China.
Shipments of the pumps is not expected to begin until 2019, the company said. The pumps wil be designed for Generation III Plus commercial power plants. The base value of the contracts exceed $450 million.
Curtiss-Wright has already established itself in the nuclear power market in China. Under a prior contract, signed in 2007, Curtiss-Wright is producing a total of sixteen reactor coolant pumps for two AP1000 plants currently under construction in the country that is leading the renaissance in nuclear power.
The company has been contracted to supply pumps for the Sanmen Units 1 and 2 in Zhejiang Province and the Haiyang Units 1 and 2 in Shandong Province.
In November, Curtiss-Wright shipped the first pair of reactor coolant pumps for Sanmen Unit 1, which is on schedule to become the world's first completed AP1000 nuclear power plant. Since then, the company has completed shipment of a second pair of reactor coolant pumps for the same reactor. The company said it expected that the remaining 12 RCPs for the original contract would be shipped in 2016.
These critical plant components, produced by Curtiss-Wright's Electro-Mechanical Division (EMD) in Cheswick, Pa., are the largest canned motor pumps ever designed and manufactured by Curtiss-Wright, which is also well known as a prominent defense contractor. Along with reactor coolant pumps, EMD designs and manufactures ship service turbine motors, generators, secondary propulsion systems, valves, seals, control rod drive mechanisms and power conditioning electronics.
The company has its eye on the domestic market, as well. “Applications for 28 new reactors at 17 power plants have been submitted to the NRC (Nuclear Regulatory Commission), half of which have selected the AP1000 design,” Curtiss-Wright proclaims on its Web site. Internationally, the tally includes “nearly 70 new reactors under construction in 13 countries, with approximately 160 planned and over 320 more proposed,” according to the Web site.