By Will Davis, Communications Director, historian, newsletter editor and board member for the N/S Savannah Association, Inc. – February 8
Recent news that Toshiba will, in all probability, end its venture into
nuclear power plant design and construction has made sort of an
upheaval in the pro-nuclear community. The Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear
plant construction in the US is not going according to plan (and
Westinghouse is owned by Toshiba) and further, purchase of the
architect-engineer and construction functions of these domestic
projects, formerly the business of CB&I / The Shaw Group, and
originally Stone & Webster Engineering, has not led to the desired
results either. Not new is the fact that in Europe, AREVA’s construction
of two new large light water EPR plants in Finland and in France is
also not going well. AREVA has collapsed, and a bailout is in progress;
Toshiba is approaching that possibility. I think at this juncture it’s
helpful to point out some broad similarities between the AP1000 projects
in
the USA and the EPR projects in Finland / France. First though I’d
direct you to this piece I wrote for ANS Nuclear Cafe on nuclear plant
construction, because it contains vital information to this discussion. Read on...http://www.theenergycollective.com/wdavis/2398003/new-large-light-water-construction-usa-and-france-2
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