Westinghouse selects control technology for Sanmen and Haiyang nuclear power plants

Emerson to supply Ovation expert control technology for four new Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear reactors in China.

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Westinghouse Electric Company has awarded Emerson Process Management contracts to supply its Ovation expert control technology at four new Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear reactors in China. The award continues a long relationship between the two companies, with the Ovation control system or its predecessors already installed at most existing Westinghouse nuclear reactors.

The new reactors will help China add baseload electrical generating capacity to meet the country’s growing needs, which according to the World Nuclear Association, are expanding at more than 8% per year.

These systems will be installed at the Sanmen Nuclear Power Plant in Zhejiang Province and at the Haiyang Nuclear Power Plant in Shandong Province. Each plant has two 1,000 MW reactors currently under construction, with more units planned. The first Sanmen unit is scheduled to come online in 2013; the first Haiyang unit is expected to begin commercial operation one year later.

For these units, Ovation technology will control power generation processes, provide an interface to operations and maintenance systems, and collect and distribute plant-wide information for process and power generation management. Emerson will supply a total of 380 cabinets and controllers, 220 workstations and 2,245 I/O modules.

Under separate contracts awarded previously, Emerson is also providing Fisher control valves, TopWorx position sensors, and Bettis valve actuators for the Sanmen and Haiyang units.

Westinghouse technology is the basis for approximately one-half of the world’s operating nuclear plants, including 60% of those in the U.S. The AP1000 design is the only Generation III+ design for nuclear power plants to have received design certification from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.  The AP1000 is fast becoming the new plant technology of choice throughout the world, including in the U.S., where the AP1000 is the selected technology for more than one-half of the announced plants.

Emerson and Westinghouse have worked together in addressing the needs of the nuclear market since Emerson’s acquisition of Westinghouse’s non-nuclear I&C business in 1998. Emerson’s Ovation or WDPF control systems – or Westinghouse’s previous-generation systems such as the 7300 analog control system – already exist in virtually all Westinghouse-built Pressurized Water Reactors (PWRs). In 2007, the two companies signed a 10-year extension of an existing agreement for Emerson to provide key technology for automation of nuclear power plants that utilize the AP1000 and other plant designs.

“We are pleased to be part of the Sanmen and Haiyang projects,” said Steve Sonnenberg, president of Emerson Process Management. “With our agreement to provide technology for automating AP1000 nuclear reactors and the growing market for nuclear power, we look forward to working with Westinghouse on additional installations in the near future.”

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Edited by Peter Welander, pwelander(at)cfemedia.com