Nuclear plant backup big business for Tognum
German company Tognum has added a contract to provide emergency generators for the Unterweser nuclear power plant to similar deals with Chinese nuclear power plants within the past year. In all, they total over €160 million ($225 million).
German company Tognum has added a contract to provide emergency generators for the Unterweser nuclear power plant to similar deals with Chinese nuclear power plants within the past year. In all, they total over €160 million ($225 million).
The Tognum Group describes itself as one of the world's leading suppliers of engines, propulsion systems and distributed energy systems based on diesel engines, gas engines, fuel cells and gas turbines. The €11.25 million ($15.82 millino) Unterweser contract is for two replacement emergency gensets based on Tognum's MTU 16V 956 TB33 diesel engine, for delivery in early 2011. The two engines will have a combined electric power output of 9400 kW. They take less than ten seconds to reach their full operating speed from startup, and can accept full load within 15 seconds of starting.
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| EOn Kernkraft's Unterweser |
In normal operation a nuclear power plant is self-sufficient in the power it needs to keep itself running safely. Diesel generators provide a backup to ensure that safety-critical systems such as coolant pumps and electronic controls are guaranteed a power supply should the reactor be forced to shut down for any reason.
Tognum's MTU emergency gensets have been in operation at Unterweser for over thirty years, and are being replaced as part of an extensive repowering system by operator EOn. A contract for two smaller gensets at the 1345 MWe pressurised water reactor is yet to be awarded. According to Tognum, Unterweser is only one of several German nuclear power plants that will need to replace their emergency power systems over the next few years, and the latest contract is seen as being of "enormous" strategic significance for possible follow-up orders.
In late 2008 and early 2009, a consortium involving Tognum subsidiary MTU Friedrichshafen, Chinese partners Norinco Group, Shanxi North MTU Diesel Co and Areva signed two contracts to supply a total of 23 emergency gensets to the Yangjiang, Fuqing and Fangjiashan nuclear power plants under construction in China. That body of work was worth €150 million ($210 million) to Tognum.
In addition to European-made components, the gensets for the Chinese plants will contain a variety of parts provided by Chinese suppliers in order to comply with local content requirements and will be assembled in a new factory set up by the joint venture in Datong. All the new gensets are scheduled to be delivered between 2011 and 2014.
