Overview

Westinghouse will present their advances made in developing the Generation III+ AP1000 nuclear reactor including passive safety features, load following plus their operating experience and plans for the delivery of new nuclear projects. The presentation will also reference advances made with nuclear fuel assemblies.    

Guests will learn of the advances Westinghouse has made in developing and deploying the Generation III+ AP1000 nuclear power plant and how innovative passive safety systems have led to increased safety accompanied by a great simplification of systems and equipment. This fundamentally changes the trend of increasing complexity seen with other Generation III reactors. The AP1000 plant design also embraces a modular construction philosophy to increase factory-based fabrication and reduce schedule risk. This plant also utilises advanced, automated load follow, which if desired, will allow the plant to react quickly to the variability of renewable output to balance the grid. The AP1000 plant systems use an automated "mechanical shim" to effect load following, thus greatly reducing the need for reactor chemistry changes and hence reducing effluent releases. Guests will also learn about the advancements in safer nuclear fuel assemblies that will provide an additional layer of safety for all operating nuclear reactors. Westinghouse will report on the record-breaking performance of their operating AP1000 plant fleet and update on current construction projects.

Further developing AP1000 plant opportunities will also be covered where Westinghouse hope to deliver additional AP1000 plant projects together with Bechtel, where owners will benefit from their shared experience gained on existing projects and complimentary capabilities.

On the sustainability question, every nuclear reactor will provide cleaner, more reliable electricity than its fossil alternative, but there will be additional talking points in the presentation which may be of great interest. This will cover the efficient load-follow to help balance renewables, without producing chemical effluents mentioned above, and also how the simplification ead to the AP1000 plant having a much reduced footprint and using a quarter of the concrete than some of our competitors. We will also mention how the “less is more” development approach differed to active Gen III plants where “more is more” was used to improve over Gen II designs, which will also be embraced by future AMR and SMR plants.

Delegates will learn of the engineering advancements Westinghouse has made in developing its AP1000 nuclear power plant, the simplification philosophy used and the advanced modular construction methodologies. Also covered will be how this reactor can efficiently be used to balance variable renewable outputs on the grid.

Speakers

Michael Waite, Westinghouse Electric Company

Michael is the Director of New Plant Market Development for Westinghouse Electric Company, and is the market lead for new and emerging nuclear power plant opportunities.

He joined Westinghouse in 2009 and has since gained great experience in European, Middle Eastern, African and South East Asian markets. His current focus is on the developing nuclear new-build opportunities in the United Kingdom, Poland, Czech Republic and Slovenia.

Prior to joining Westinghouse, he enjoyed ten years in senior management positions in companies designing and manufacturing products for the global nuclear industry. He has spent his career working for major multinational corporations and has been based on three different continents.

Michael received his BEng Honours Degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1989 from Bath University.

Julie Gorgemans, Westinghouse Electric Company

Julie Gorgemans holds a Master in Physics Engineering from the Université Libre de Bruxelles and a Master in Business Administration from the University of Manchester. She joined Westinghouse in 2005, working in engineering services supporting design upgrades for safety improvement and power uprating programs on European pressurized water reactors. She then joined the Westinghouse new plant division in 2008 which she supported until 2017,  working on the development and International deployment of the AP1000 plant including four years in the UK. From 2017 until recently, she returned to Westinghouse engineering services as a product manager for the nuclear island engineering services (including equipment and system upgrades) for the European pressurized water reactors, with a focus on long term operation. She recently returned to Westinghouse new plant division to support the AP1000 plant deployment in Europe.

The material presented in this webinar has not been peer-reviewed. Any opinions are the presenters' own and do not necessarily represent those of IChemE or the Nuclear Technology Special Interest Group. The information is given in good faith but without any liability on the part of IChemE.