POWER February 2011 - 14

5. Remembering the first responders.
Ukraine's government recently announced
plans to open the 19-mile exclusion
zone around Chernobyl-site of the worst nuclear
accident in history-to the public starting
in 2011, 25 years after the catastrophic event.
Plans call for guides to lead tourists around the
so-called " zone of alienation. " According to reports,
though background radiation in the area
remains well above normal, flora and fauna
have returned to the area. This image shows
a monument built to remember the firefighters
who were the first responders. Courtesy:
Ukraine Ministry of Emergency Situations
many people come in and it becomes this
nuclear Disneyland, " she told U.S. cable
television station CNN.
POWER Digest
MHI to Continue Pre-Construction
Work for North Anna Unit. Mitsubishi
Heavy Industries Ltd. (MHI), through
Mitsubishi Nuclear Energy Systems
Inc., and Dominion subsidiary Virginia
Electric and Power Co. on Dec. 27
said they had reached an agreement to
continue pre-construction, engineering,
and planning work in preparation for
a third unit at Dominion's North Anna
Nuclear Power Plant in central Virginia.
Dominion had selected MHI's US-Advanced
Pressurized Water Reactor (USAPWR)
as the design for its potential
third nuclear power generation unit.
Based on the agreement, MHI will continue
to advance engineering and planning
work for the project while awaiting
Dominion's decision on a construction
commencement date. The Nuclear Regulatory
Commission is expected to issue
design certification for the US-APWR by
the third quarter of 2012. The regulatory
body is also expected to issue a
combined construction and operation
license for the project in early 2013.
Bechtel to Provide Project Manageate
plans were to " finish building a new
safer shell for the exploded reactor by
2015. " It would cover the original ironand-concrete
structure built as a speedy
measure to cover the reactor that has
been leaking radiation and was on the
brink of collapse. Other plans included
implementing projects to provide heat
and electricity to the Chernobyl zone.
News publications around the world
widely quoted Ukrainian government
spokesperson Yulia Yershova as saying
that " experts " were developing travel
routes that would be medically safe
and informative to Ukrainians and foreigners.
Guides are expected to lead
tourists around the condemned area,
staying away from " the most radioactive
areas. "
Regarding what one should wear when
one visits Chernobyl, Mary Mycio, author of
Wormwood Forest, a 2005 book about the
area, was quoted by CNN as advising that
it should be " something that you wouldn't
mind leaving behind in case it does get
dirty. " Mycio also reportedly said that radioactivity
wasn't really an issue anymore.
" The only concern I would have is if too
14
ment for UAE Nuclear Plant. Bechtel
said on Dec. 16 that it would provide
design and project management support
services for the first commercial nuclear
power plant in the Middle East. The plant
will be one of four that a consortium
headed by the Korean Electric Power
Corp. (KEPCO) will build and manage in
the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Bechtel
plans to provide project support to KEPCO
E&C both in Seoul, South Korea, and
at the project site in Braka, which is
in the western region of Abu Dhabi. The
first UAE nuclear power plant is scheduled
to be completed in 2017.
Alstom to Rehabilitate EDF's French
Nuclear Fleet. Alstom secured orders
worth €340 million to rehabilitate
and maintain a part of Électricité de
France's (EDF's) nuclear fleet in France.
The company said in December that it
would supply stators for 900-MW and
1,300-MW generators, rotors for 900MW
generators, and lines of rotors for
900-MW steam turbines. Alstom has
designed and manufactured all the conventional
islands installed in France's
nuclear power plants today, all owned
and run by EDF and representing 64% of
the country's installed base and 86% of
France's total energy consumption. This
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contract is part of EDF's strategy to renovate
its nuclear fleet and follows the
framework agreement signed by Alstom
with EDF in 2008 to renovate the generators
in EDF's nuclear power plants.
Siemens Receives Largest Onshore
Wind Turbine Order to Date. Siemens
on Dec. 29 announced it had received
an order for 258 wind turbines from
U.S. utility MidAmerican Energy-the
largest onshore wind order the German
firm has received to date. The turbines,
each with a nameplate capacity of 2.3
MW, will outfit several wind farms in
Iowa. After commissioning in January
2012, the turbines will have a combined
nameplate capacity of 593 MW.
ABB to Supply HVDC Link Between
Sweden and Lithuania. Zurich-based
ABB on Dec. 21 announced it had won
orders worth $580 million from Svenska
Kraftnät of Sweden and LITGRID turtas
AB of Lithuania to supply a new highvoltage
direct current (HVDC) transmission
link between the Nordic and Baltic
regions. The system will comprise two
converter stations and cable to transmit
700 MW with minimum losses across a
distance of more than 400 kilometers.
ABB plans to design, engineer, supply,
and commission the two 700-MW, ±300
kV converter stations using its HVDC
Light technology. One station will be in
Nybro, Sweden, the other in Klaipeda,
Lithuania. The order also includes the
supply and installation of two 300-kV
underwater cables, each 400 km long,
and land cables of the same voltage in
Sweden and Lithuania.
Voith Hydro to Provide Equipment
for Portuguese Pumped Storage Plant.
Voith Hydro Heidenheim, as part of a
consortium with Siemens Portugal, won
a €122 million order from Portuguese facility
Energias de Portugal on Dec. 10 to
equip the Venda Nova III pumped storage
plant with electromechanical equipment
for two reversible pumped storage units.
Voith Hydro reported that the project
would be a " milestone in hydropower " ;
it will use variable-speed technology to
support direct grid control. The pumped
storage units of Venda Nova III are expected
to adapt their number of revolutions
continuously and take capacity
from the grid in the range between 319
MW and 380 MW-boosting the development
of wind power in Portugal. The
project is slated to be connected to the
grid in early 2015. Portugal has plans to
add 5,400 MW of new wind power capacity
by then. ■
-Sonal Patel is POWER's senior writer.
POWER | February 2011
http://www.powermag.com
POWER February 2011

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