Chinese projects place orders

Thursday, 11 March 2010

Orders for waste management systems and valves for new nuclear reactors under construction in China have been placed with US-based suppliers Energy Solutions and Flowserve. 

Utah-based Energy Solutions has won a contract from China Guangdong Nuclear Power Holding Corporation (CGNPC) to supply waste management systems for two new CPR-1000 reactors being built at Yangjiang in Guangdong province. Meanwhile, Flowserve has announced an order worth over $15 million from State Nuclear Power Engineering Company Ltd (SNPEC) for valves and actuators for the Sanmen and Haiyang unit 2 Westinghouse AP1000 reactors.

The contract to design and supply the liquid waste processing system, together with solid waste systems, for the Yangjiang units was awarded to the company's international subsidiary Energy Solutions EU Ltd. According to Energy Solutions, the liquid waste processing systems will reduce the plants' liquid effluent discharges to less than half the current Chinese national standard.

The CPR-1000 is a pressurized water reactor (PWR) design developed by CGNPC from China's French-designed PWR units, and with a standard construction time of 52 months and unit cost under 10,000 yuan (US$ 1500) per kilowatt, it is being widely deployed under China's ambitious nuclear energy expansion plans. Some 15 units are officially under construction and work is planned to begin on many more over the next few years.

Flow control at AP1000s

Now under construction: Sanmen 2 (Image: SNPTC)

Flowserve's $15 million order will see the company supply safety-related globe and gate valves and actuators from its Limitorque range to the AP1000 reactors, the first of the Westinghouse generation III design to be built in China. The order will include valves manufactured at Flowserve's facility in Raleigh, North Carolina and actuators manufactured in Lynchburg, Virginia.

This order follows various others placed with the company by Westinghouse for valves for the Chinese plants, the most recent being orders for motor-operated valves for Sanmen and Haiyang unit 1 placed at the end of 2008. In March 2009, Flowserve signed a joint venture agreement with China's SUFA Technology Industry Co Ltd - a subsidiary of China National Nuclear Corp (CNNC) and the largest valve manufacturer in China - to produce safety-related valves exclusively for China's nuclear power industry.

Two AP1000s are currently under construction at Sanmen. Although the first of two units at Haiyang is already under construction, work on the second unit, to which the new order applies, is not due to start until later this year. 

Researched and written

by World Nuclear News