Westinghouse Electric Company announced today that all four reactor coolant pumps (RCPs) at Sanmen Unit 1 have been installed ahead of the current milestone schedule. Sanmen 1 is one of two AP1000® nuclear power plants under construction at the Sanmen Nuclear Power Plant in Zhejiang Province, China.



The Sanmen site teams successfully installed two separate sets of RCPS ahead of the current milestone schedule. The first two were installed in late January. The second set of RCPs arrived at Sanmen on Feb. 8. The team applied the experiences and lessons learned during the installation of the first set of RCPs, installing the second set on March 1, 10 days ahead of schedule.



“This is a key milestone that moves us a step closer to bringing the world’s very first AP1000 nuclear power plants online,” said Jeff Benjamin, Westinghouse senior vice president, New Plants and Major Projects. “The valuable experiences the teams gained from these installations will benefit future RCP installations at AP1000 plants under construction around the world, driving process improvements and delivery certainty for our customers globally.”



The RCPs are part of the reactor coolant system that maintains reactor core cooling and are components of the AP1000 plant’s innovative passive safety system design. The pumps installed at Sanmen 1 were manufactured in Cheswick, Pa., in the United States, and traveled 11,344 nautical miles, or 20,646 kilometers, to reach the Sanmen site. The Westinghouse global supply chain successfully ensured that items across the products lines are able to be utilized in AP1000 projects.



In addition to the two AP1000 units under construction at Sanmen, two units are under construction at Haiyang in Shandong Province, China, as well as four in the United States, two at the Vogtle plant in Waynesboro, Ga., and two at the V.C. Summer plant in Jenkinsville, S.C.