BEIJING--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Westinghouse Electric Company, Sanmen Nuclear Power Company, Shandong Nuclear Power Company, State Nuclear Power Engineering Company and China Nuclear Industry Fifth Construction Company have together installed eight reactor coolant pumps (RCPs) at the world’s first AP1000 nuclear power plant units under construction in China. The complex process was improved by 11 days thanks to the return on experience gained from the first RCP installation at Sanmen Unit 1 in Zhejiang Province to the final RCP at Haiyang Unit 1 in Shandong Province.
The eight RCPs – four at each site – were installed between January and April. The first RCP installation at Sanmen Unit 1 in January took 30 days to complete. A key component to the improved installation time was the application of lessons learned and best practices at each of the subsequent RCP installations. Performance improved with each RCP installation, with the final RCP installation taking only 19 days at Haiyang Unit 1 – a 37 percent reduction in installation time.
“The successful completion of these highly complex installations without any safety-related incidents or quality issues is a significant milestone for our AP1000 projects,” said Jeff Benjamin, Westinghouse senior vice president, New Plants and Major Projects. “The experiences we’ve gained from these RCP installations to improve installation speed and performance have moved us beyond first-of-kind issues and are driving us to Nth-of-a-kind delivery for the AP1000 fleet under construction.”
The RCPs are part of the reactor coolant system that maintains reactor core cooling and are components of the AP1000 plant’s innovative passive safety system design. The AP1000 plant design is enhanced by its modular one-design model, allowing best practices to be incorporated into each site, which improves delivery performance and consistency in construction.
The company has already programmed lessons learned from the installation of these eight RCPs during upcoming RCP installations at Sanmen Unit 2 and Haiyang Unit 2, as well as the four units under construction in the United States, two at the Vogtle plant in Waynesboro, Ga., and two at the V.C. Summer plant in Jenkinsville, S.C.
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