atw 2018-1

atw Vol. 63 (2018) | Issue 1 ı January
10
INSIDE NUCLEAR WITH NUCNET
UK Is Leading the Way
With Clear Strategy for Nuclear
NucNet
The UK is Europe’s most prominent leader in nuclear development because of the government’s clear
­strategy of supporting nuclear energy as part of its future energy mix, a senior official from US-based nuclear
equipment manufacturer Westinghouse Electric Company said.
Michael Kirst, Westinghouse’s vice-president of
strategy for Europe, Middle East and Africa
(EMEA), warned, however, that choices about nuclear
development must be based on technology, and not on the
type of financing package. “We now have a banking ­contest
and not a technology contest and this is not healthy for the
industry or the energy system,” he said.
Mr Kirst told reporters in Brussels that the UK government’s
decision to support the financing of new energy
projects, including nuclear, by way of a contract for
difference (CfD) scheme was a breakthrough.
“The UK government made it clear they need these new
nuclear capacities”, he said. The UK model provides a “fair
foundation” where all low-carbon technologies were given
exactly the same access to state support.
Mr Kirst said Westinghouse, a privately owned company,
does not have access to state support on demand, unlike its
major competitors in the nuclear industry, which are
“somehow state-owned or state-controlled”. A clear market
signal for private investors in nuclear development is therefore
essential because it allows choices based on technology,
rather than on a financing package, Mr Kirst said.
Speaking about NuGen’s planned three-unit Moorside
nuclear project in Cumbria, northwest England, the
company’s president for EMEA, Luc Van Hulle, said there
are “a couple of options on the table” and Westinghouse’s
AP1000 Generation III+ pressurised water reactor
technology is still potentially one of these options.
The future of the Moorside project to build three
AP1000s has been overshadowed by Westinghouse’s filing
for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US in March
2017, along with Westinghouse owner Toshiba’s financial
woes and its decision to no longer serve as a contractor of
engineering, procurement and construction for overseas
nuclear projects.
Mr Van Hulle said the Moorside project became “more
complicated” after Engie sold its 40 % stake in NuGen to
Toshiba in April 2017, making the Japanese company the
sole owner of the project. But he said Westinghouse is
­confident that the project will proceed “one way or
another”. He said the fate of the project is in the hands of
the UK government and NuGen’s owner Toshiba.
Last month state media reported that China General
Nuclear Power Corporation (CGN) is considering investing
in Moorside, while in March 2017, South Korea’s Korea
Electric Power Corporation (Kepco) expressed an interest in
taking a stake in NuGen.
Mr Van Hulle said that holding on to the AP1000 design
will be the securest and fastest way to realise the Moorside
project because the plant completed the UK’s generic
design assessment (GDA) review by regulators in the UK in
March 2017.
If NuGen chooses another technology, the process of
going through another GDA process could delay the project
by four or five years, he said.
“Clearly there will be a shift in the start date from 2025
to later in the 2020s, but the plant could still be up and
running before 2030,” NuGen’s chief executive officer Tom
Samson told Reuters last week.
Mr Samson said the timing will largely depend on the
technology choice, because the new bidders may want to
bring in their own designs. However, Mr Samson said:
“We are not ruling out any technology at this stage.”
In the US, the expected delay to the Vogtle nuclear
project and the cancellation of the Summer project in
South Carolina was not related to the AP1000 technology,
Mr Van Hulle said.
He said the AP1000 design is “safe and sound” and the
AP1000 reactor units being built in China will prove this
once they enter commercial operation.
There are four AP1000 nuclear units under construction
in China – two at Sanmen and two at Haiyang – all expected
to become commercially operational in 2018.
| | AP1000 new build in Haiyang, China.
South Carolina Electric and Santee Cooper, the two US
utilities that co-own the Summer AP1000 project, decided
to suspend its construction in July 2017 quoting cost
overruns and schedule delays.
Mr Van Hulle said the utilities’ decision to stop construction
was “saddening” because of the advanced stage
of development, with all nuclear steam supply systems
having been installed. He said the Summer units will not be
completed in the “foreseeable future”, but there is a
possibility that a new owner could take over the project.
In September 2017, the owners of the two-unit Vogtle
AP1000 project in Georgia recommended completing
construction, despite Westinghouse’s financial woes and
increased costs.
The two new reactors at Vogtle, units 3 and 4, under
construction since 2013, represent the first US deployment
of the AP1000 technology.
According to Mr Van Hulle, despite its current difficulties
in the US, Westinghouse has a “very sound base
business” which will serve as the backbone of the
company’s future.
In August 2017, Westinghouse submitted a five-year
business plan to the company’s debtor-in-possession (DIP)
financing lenders and the unsecured creditors committee.
Inside Nuclear with NucNet
UK Is Leading the Way With Clear Strategy for Nuclear ı NucNet