Skip to main content

The U.S. Nuclear Renaissance: Forging Ahead

By Kevin McCoy
UniStar Nuclear made a weighty announcement today:
AREVA NP Inc. and BWX Technologies, Inc. ... have signed an agreement that will re-establish commercial nuclear power plant component manufacturing in the United States and will support the UniStar business model and future fleet of nuclear power plants in North America. The agreement between the two nuclear technology development and manufacturing leaders is a major link in the UniStar supply chain. It will result in the ability to manufacture components for UniStar's fleet of U.S. Evolutionary Power Reactor (U.S. EPR) advanced nuclear power plants, as well as commercial nuclear plant replacement components for operating North American plants.

The BWXT plant is in Mount Vernon, in the extreme southwest corner of Indiana. It has access to the Ohio River, so it is convenient for barge shipment of heavy components to much of the central U.S.

With all the excitement about early site permits and design certifications, it is easy to forget that construction of a nuclear power plant requires "big iron" (actually steel), huge forgings and weldments that are made to exacting specifications. The press release notes that "global supply of forgings and major components for new plants may well become an issue." What an understatement! I understand that the lead time for a set of steam generators is currently six to seven years. Fortunately, the press release also says that the plant "could begin manufacturing commercial nuclear components as early as 2006." That's none too soon! It looks as if the Mount Vernon plant will be a busy place.

POSTSCRIPT: Back in April, we mentioned that BWXT had been awarded the "N" stamp to produce commercial nuclear grade components. In June, we pointed to a story in the Indiana press that speculated on the future of the company, and what it might mean for its hometown's future.

Technorati tags: , , , , , , , ,

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Fluor Invests in NuScale

By
You know, it’s kind of sad that no one is willing to invest in nuclear energy anymore. Wait, what? NuScale Power celebrated the news of its company-saving $30 million investment from Fluor Corp. Thursday morning with a press conference in Washington, D.C. Fluor is a design, engineering and construction company involved with some 20 plants in the 70s and 80s, but it has not held interest in a nuclear energy company until now. Fluor, which has deep roots in the nuclear industry, is betting big on small-scale nuclear energy with its NuScale investment. "It's become a serious contender in the last decade or so," John Hopkins, [Fluor’s group president in charge of new ventures], said. And that brings us to NuScale, which had run into some dark days – maybe not as dark as, say, Solyndra, but dire enough : Earlier this year, the Securities Exchange Commission filed an action against NuScale's lead investor, The Michael Kenwood Group. The firm "misap...
1 comment
Read more

Wednesday Update

By
From NEI’s Japan micro-site: NRC, Industry Concur on Many Post-Fukushima Actions Industry/Regulatory/Political Issues • There is a “great deal of alignment” between the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the industry on initial steps to take at America’s nuclear energy facilities in response to the nuclear accident in Japan, Charles Pardee, the chief operating officer of Exelon Generation Co., said at an agency briefing today. The briefing gave stakeholders an opportunity to discuss staff recommendations for near-term actions the agency may take at U.S. facilities. PowerPoint slides from the meeting are on the NRC website. • The International Atomic Energy Agency board has approved a plan that calls for inspectors to evaluate reactor safety at nuclear energy facilities every three years. Governments may opt out of having their country’s facilities inspected. Also approved were plans to maintain a rapid response team of experts ready to assist facility operators recoverin...
Post a Comment
Read more

Nuclear Utility Moves Up in Credit Ratings, Bank is "Comfortable with Nuclear Strategy"

By
Some positive signs that nuclear utilities can continue to receive positive ratings even while they finance new nuclear plants for the first time in decades: Wells Fargo upgrades SCANA to Outperform from Market Perform Wells analyst says, "YTD, SCG shares have underperformed the Regulated Electrics (total return +2% vs. +9%). Shares trade at 11.3X our 10E EPS, a modest discount to the peer group median of 11.8X. We view the valuation as attractive given a comparatively constructive regulatory environment and potential for above-average long-term EPS growth prospects ... Comfortable with Nuclear Strategy. SCG plans to participate in the development of two regulated nuclear units at a cost of $6.3B, raising legitimate concerns regarding financing and construction. We have carefully considered the risks and are comfortable with SCG’s strategy based on a highly constructive political & regulatory environment, manageable financing needs stretched out over 10 years, strong partners...
Post a Comment
Read more