The CVBH serves as the foundation for the containment vessel, a capsule-shaped steel structure that will house the nuclear reactor. The project team used a large-capacity crane to lift, position and install the CVBH
- By Stephen Heiser -
The Shaw Group Inc. and Westinghouse Electric Company, along with China’s State Nuclear Power Technology Corporation (SNPTC), Sanmen Nuclear Power Company (SMNPC) and China Nuclear Industry Fifth Construction Corporation (CNF) successfully completed the lift and setting of the containment vessel bottom head (CVBH) of Unit 1 at the Sanmen AP1000 nuclear power plant project.
The CVBH serves as the foundation for the containment vessel, a capsule-shaped steel structure that will house the nuclear reactor. The project team used a large-capacity crane to lift, position and install the CVBH. The lift of the CVBH and its supporting structures was more than 900 tons.
“The successful lift and set of the CVBH brings us one step closer to introducing the world’s first AP1000 nuclear power plant,” said Fred Buckman, president of Shaw’s Power Group. “As we continue construction, we remain dedicated to the safe and timely execution of this project.”
The CVBH is the second massive nuclear plant structural module installed by the China Project AP1000 team members, following the Auxiliary Building Module CA-20 set at Sanmen Unit 1 earlier this year.
Shaw is under contract with SNPTC, SMNPC, Shandong Nuclear Power Company Ltd. and China National Technical Import & Export Corporation to provide engineering, procurement, commissioning, information management and project management services for two Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear units under construction at Sanmen in the Zhejiang province and two units under construction at Haiyang in Shandong province.
The Shaw Group Inc. is a leading global provider of engineering, construction, technology, fabrication, remediation and support services for clients in the energy, chemicals, environmental, infrastructure and emergency response industries. A Fortune 500 company with fiscal year 2009 annual revenues of $7.3 billion, Shaw has approximately 28,000 employees around the world and is the power sector industry leader according to Engineering News-Record’s list of Top 500 Design Firms.
Westinghouse Electric Company, a group company of Toshiba Corporation, is the world's pioneering nuclear power 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. Today, Westinghouse technology is the basis for approximately one-half of the world's operating nuclear plants, including 60 percent of those in the United States.