The new nuclear energy plants that are being built, and will be built, over the next decades are clearly the most efficient and safest electricity-generating plants ever designed. The Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear plant, for example, makes use of naturally occurring, passive safety systems that rely on gravity, condensation and natural circulation to begin cooling the plant in the highly unlikely event of an accident even without human intervention
– By Linton Levy –
Westinghouse Electric Company applauds the nuclear energy provisions of legislation just released in the U.S. Senate that will further support the global nuclear renaissance and thereby reduce greenhouse gas emissions while enhancing global energy independence.
In commenting on the legislation, Westinghouse President and CEO Dr. Aris S. Candris said:
"The new nuclear energy plants that are being built, and will be built, over the next decades are clearly the most efficient and safest electricity-generating plants ever designed. The Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear plant, for example, makes use of naturally occurring, passive safety systems that rely on gravity, condensation and natural circulation to begin cooling the plant in the highly unlikely event of an accident even without human intervention.
"This unsurpassed level of safety of the new plants, and the proven track record of success of the existing operating fleet, will help to ensure that nuclear energy achieves its full potential and that the United States will be able to achieve higher levels of energy independence."
Westinghouse Electric Company, a group company of Toshiba Corporation, is a pioneering nuclear energy company and is a leading supplier of nuclear plant products and technologies to utilities throughout the world. Westinghouse supplied the world's first PWR in 1957 in Shippingport, Pa. Today, Westinghouse technology is the basis for approximately one-half of the world's operating nuclear plants, including 60 percent of those in the United States.