Westinghouse Leverages Global Experience for Construction Certainty at Vogtle Project Site

Westinghouse Electric Company’s recent module placements for Vogtle AP1000^® units 3 and 4 successfully leveraged the company’s global experiences in modular construction to drive delivery certainty for the nuclear power plant under construction in Waynesboro, Ga.

“The modules are critical parts of the plant’s nuclear island and passive safety system, providing an enhanced level of safety and security that only the AP1000 design offers,” said Jeff Benjamin, Westinghouse senior vice president, New Plants and Major Projects. “The Vogtle project is benefiting from the best practices we’ve incorporated for module construction and placement from our other AP1000 plant projects worldwide as well as from the coordination between Westinghouse and our contractor Fluor on the project.”

Westinghouse uses modular construction techniques that rely on a strong global supply chain of qualified vendors to manufacture modules for plant construction. Modularization allows construction tasks that were traditionally performed in sequence to be completed in parallel, reducing costs and shortening construction schedules.

The CA05 module was placed in the Unit 4 nuclear island on June 24 by a heavy-lift derrick, a specially designed crane that is one of the largest in the world. The 180,000-pound module consists of reinforced steel plates that will be filled with concrete to provide structural support for the Unit 4 containment building. The protective walls of the module also will separate various rooms in the containment building.

At Vogtle Unit 3, two modules – CA03 and CA02 – were set in place in late May. CA03, weighing 474,000 pounds, and CA02, weighing 104,000 pounds, are part of the in-containment refueling water storage tank (IRWST) in the Unit 3 containment building. The IRWST will hold more than 500,000 gallons of borated water and is a design feature of the AP1000 plant’s passive safety system that automatically releases water into the containment area to absorb decay heat and keep the reactor core cool and safe in the event of an unplanned shutdown.

The two AP1000 nuclear power plant units currently under construction for Georgia Power by Westinghouse and Fluor are among the first new nuclear power plants being built in the United States in more than 30 years.

To learn more about Westinghouse Electric Company and our vision to be the first to innovate the next technology, practice or solution that helps our customers generate safer, cleaner, more reliable energy visit www.westinghousenuclear.com.

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Contact information

Westinghouse Electric Company
Courtney Boone, 412-374-2707
Director, Media Relations
booneca@westinghouse.com