Westinghouse Electric and Curtiss-Wright Corporation said they had passed a significant milestone in relation to the Sanmen Unit 1 plant, getting a green-light for the manufacturing and shipment of the reactor coolant pumps for that plant, which leads to construction and delivery for pumps involving a total of eight AP1000 Units, including plants under construction in Georgia and South Carolina.
The two companies in conjunction with the State Nuclear Power Technology Corporation of China announced the successful completion of performance testing and post-test inspections for the lead AP1000 plant reactor coolant pump.
Throughout the testing, the reactor coolant pump performance met the design requirements which are necessary to support safe and reliable AP1000 plant operation, the companies said in a joint statement.
The final performance testing put the pump to work under a full range of plant operating conditions for 1,600 hours. The tests included more than 600 start-and-stop cycles.
Test completion amounts to a go-ahead for the fabrication and delivery of the remaining two reactor coolant pumps for Sanmen Unit 1. In addition, the test results green light pump deliveries for the seven additional AP1000 Units currently under construction in China and the United States.
Curtiss-Wright was awarded the contract from Westinghouse in 2008 for 24 pumps for AP1000 reactors under construction in China and for 24 pumps for U.S. reactors. At the time, the value of the contracts was $600 million.
Extensive China regulator reviews and detailed post-test inspections are now complete and confirmed that the reactor coolant pump performed as designed during the final performance testing. Curtiss-Wright conducted the testing and inspection at its Electro-Mechanical Division (EMD) facility in Cheswick, Pennsylvania.
Jeff Benjamin, Westinghouse senior vice president, New Plants and Major Projects, called the test completion a “major milestone in the delivery of the world's first AP1000 plant.”
The President of State Nuclear Power Technology Corp., Zhongtang Wang said the test completion included seven years of pump development, which he described as a “close, cooperative effort.” He also said the pump development included “strong support of the National Nuclear Safety Administration and National Energy Administration of China.”
“This success will further accelerate China AP1000 project construction progress as well as boost advanced passive Generation III nuclear power development in China,” he said.