Westinghouse Wins Contract to Perform Reactor Vessel Dismantling Services at Chooz A Nuclear Reactor in France
Westinghouse Electric Company has been awarded a contract by EDF-CIDEN (Engineering Center for Dismantling and the Environment) to provide reactor vessel (RV) dismantling services for the Chooz A nuclear reactor in France. The first of a three-reactor plant, Chooz A was shut down in 1991 after an operational life of 24 years. It will become the first pressurized water reactor (PWR) in France to be fully dismantled. Chooz units B1 and B2 remain operational.
The project is expected to take six and one half years to complete. Westinghouse will be the lead in a consortium with Nuvia France and will provide resources from its Vasteras, Sweden; Nivelles, Belgium; and Orsay, France locations.
Westinghouse’s scope includes overall project management, RV and RV internals segmentation, reactor nozzle cutting, dismantling of the RV thermal insulation, performing ALARA (As Low As Reasonably Achievable) forecast to ensure acceptable personnel dose, and providing a complementary water filtration system to maintain water clarity during the segmentation work. Westinghouse will dismantle the RV and RV internals using mechanical cutting technology that has been applied successfully for more than 10 years.
"EDF, the largest nuclear utility in the world, has been at the forefront of gaining public support for the nuclear renaissance," said Yves Brachet, Westinghouse regional vice president, France. "With this important project, EDF and Westinghouse will be teaming to further enhance that support by demonstrating that the safe dismantling of a reactor is possible."
"Westinghouse is proud to have been selected by EDF-CIDEN as its partner to fully dismantle Chooz A," said Tim Collier, vice president, Westinghouse Engineering Services Component and Plant Engineering. "Our European experience in RV segmentation projects is a key factor in the successful completion of this project and our team is focused on delivering this project safely and with the highest quality."
Westinghouse Electric Company, a group company of Toshiba Corporation, is a pioneering nuclear energy company and is a leading supplier of nuclear plant products and technologies to utilities throughout the world. Westinghouse supplied the world's first PWR in 1957 in Shippingport, Pa., USA. Today, Westinghouse technology is the basis for approximately one-half of the world's operating nuclear plants, including 60 per cent of those in the United States.
Published 27/04/2010
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