POWER May 2012 - 38

NUCLEAR
1. From the ground up. Construction of Vogtle Unit 3 turbine building foundation basement
is under way. Photo was taken on March 5, 2012. Courtesy: Southern Company Inc.
cess, companies are selecting preapproved
NRC standardized reactor designs, such
as the Westinghouse AP1000 PWR, that
incorporate vendor-designed skids, equipment
packages, and modular construction
techniques that are expected to prevent the
rampant construction cost escalation experienced
in the past. The AP1000 is a modular
design that uses passive safety systems
that rely on gravity, natural circulation,
and convection to maintain safe operation
and to shut the plant down safely during an
off-normal event. These features increase
reliability and reduce maintenance and operating
costs.
2. Modular assembly. Welding of the Vogtle Unit 3 containment vessel bottom head assembly
is under way. Photo was taken on January 30, 2012. Courtesy: Southern Company Inc.
Got COLs. What's Next?
With the COLs in hand, Southern Nuclear
is fully authorized to construct and operate
two 1,100-MW Westinghouse AP1000
PWRs at the Vogtle site, adjacent to the
company's existing Units 1 and 2. Westinghouse
has partnered with Shaw to provide
engineering, procurement, and construction
services (see " Construction Is a Cooperative,
Global Effort, " p. 44).
POWER recently visited with Cheri Collins,
general manager and nuclear liaison for
Vogtle Units 3 and 4, for an update on the
work completed since our visit in late 2009.
Collins noted that most of the work over the
past two years has been in subsurface soil
preparation: " The LWA allowed for the excavation
and selection of soil that met the appropriate
strength and stability criteria to be
used as backfill, and the compacting of that
soil for the foundation for the nuclear island
and reactor. It was important for this nuclear
grade soil to be free of clay to meet these criteria. "
That work has been completed.
" The next series of milestones could not
What Is NuStart?
Obtaining approval of the Vogtle combined
construction and operating license (COL)
was a joint effort with NuStart Energy Development
LLC (NuStart), a partnership of
10 power companies created in 2004 to
obtain a COL using the new streamlined
licensing process and to complete design
engineering for the selected reactor technologies.
Southern Nuclear had submitted
its original and supplemental COL applications
in 2008 and 2009, respectively.
Also in 2009, NuStart named Plant Vogtle
the reference plant for the Westinghouse
AP1000 technology.
The NuStart consortium includes South38
ern
Nuclear, which worked as part of the
DOE Nuclear Power 2010 Program to develop
the licensing strategy necessary to
develop and receive the first COL from the
NRC. Members of NuStart are: DTE Energy,
Detroit, Mich.; Duke Energy, Charlotte,
N.C.; EDF Inc., Chevy Chase, Md.; Entergy
Nuclear, Jackson, Miss.; Exelon Generation,
Kennett Square, Pa.; Florida Power & Light
Co., Juno Beach, Fla.; Progress Energy, Raleigh,
N.C.; South Carolina Electric & Gas,
Columbia, S.C.; Southern Nuclear, Birmingham,
Ala.; and Tennessee Valley Authority,
Knoxville, Tenn. For more information on
NuStart, go to www.nustartenergy.com.
www.powermag.com
have occurred until the COL was received-
the pouring of safety-related concrete. The
next series of steps consists of pouring a
6-foot-thick reinforced concrete base mat
that will be underneath the containment vessel.
Following the pouring of the concrete
base mat, we will place a concave basket
made out of rebar that is being fabricated as
the pouring is taking place. The containment
vessel bottom head will be placed inside this
concave rebar basket, and more concrete will
be poured around it to secure the containment
vessel bottom head in place. "
Figures 1 and 2 illustrate construction
work in progress.
Looking to the future, Collins emphasized
that even with the COLs in hand,
a few significant milestones must be
achieved before the NRC will authorize
Vogtle to load fuel into the reactor. " We
have the COL, permission to build plant,
but the NRC will not allow us to load fuel
POWER | May 2012
http://www.nustartenergy.com http://www.powermag.com
POWER May 2012

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