Westinghouse To Open New Nuclear Welding Training Centers

Tennessee facility will train as many as 700 welders annually in both nuclear and non-nuclear operations

 - Edited by Abby Gessner -

According to a report by the World Nuclear News, Westinghouse will next week open its second WEC Welding Institute in the USA, as well as a training center for maintaining and refuelling boiling water reactors (BWRs).  The new welding institute - based at Westinghouse's new Boiling Water Reactor (BWR) Training Center in Chattanooga, Tennessee - will train as many as 700 welders annually in both nuclear and non-nuclear operations.

The center houses a full-scale BWR cavity with vessel, internals, spent fuel pool, and a refuelling bridge. The facility also has two 33-ton cranes and an under-vessel mock-up. The center is equipped with 48 weld booths and certifies students after they complete an average of five months of hands-on training. After training, the students can take the American Society of Mechanical Engineers' (ASME) welding qualification test. On passing the exam and getting their certifications, they must work for Westinghouse for 2000 hours.

The students can work as apprentices at power plants or at any facility where Westinghouse needs welding work. The company said several of its customers use the institute to pre-qualify the students to work during upcoming atomic plant outages.

Westinghouse also has a welding institute in Rock Hill, South Carolina, which opened in 2006 and was expanded last year. The company earlier indicated that, in addition to the new Chattanooga welding institute, it planned to open a further three schools, each having 50 welding booths, in other U.S. locations.

In November 2007, Westinghouse has announced the acquisition of Carolina Energy Solutions (CES), a supplier of welding and machining services for a wide variety of energy industries. The company also bought affiliates Aggressive Equipment and the Construction Institute of America (CIA). All three entities were merged into Westinghouse's new WEC Welding and Machining business. At that time, Westinghouse highlighted the "strategically important" addition of the CIA Welding School, which produces 120-150 apprentice welders every year.