The <strong>Nuclear</strong> RenaissanceBy Jeffrey Merrifi eld, The Shaw Group.1. What is Shaw Group’s currentinternational involvement?Today the principal focus of Shaw’sPower Group is on our activities inChina. We’re teaming with Westinghouseand we’re in the process of building theSanmen and Haiyang nuclear generatingunits for our client, the State <strong>Nuclear</strong>Power Technology Corporation (SNTPC)of China. The first of these units, Sanmen I,will be delivered in the late 2013 time frame.Then an additional unit will come on atthe sites alternating every six monthsthereafter. So it will begin with SanmenUnit 1 and then Haiyang Unit 1 andthen from there back to Sanmen Unit 2and then Haiyang Unit 2. That has beena tremendous opportunity for Shawand Westinghouse because it’s givenus an opportunity to conduct the firstdeployment of the AP1000. We are seeingfirsthand the deployment of modularconstruction for nuclear facilities and it’sgiving us significant experience refiningour procedures to make sure that when wedeploy those very same AP1000 units forour clients here in the US – for SCANAand the Southern Company - we can dothat in a fully integrated and plannedway. It will make our activities here moresuccessful in accomplishing the timelinesthat we’ve laid out.One of the other areas that we’velooked at and have discussed this withour clients, is assisting Toshiba, with thedeployment of the ABWR design andthat creates one further opportunity forcooperation between our two companies.That’s a logical step given the fact thatToshiba and Shaw are co-owners ofWestinghouse (Shaw owns 20%) andfurther cooperation between the twocompanies is obviously very logical.Toshiba owns 70% of Westinghouse andAn interview by Newal Agnihotri, Editor,<strong>Nuclear</strong> <strong>Plant</strong> <strong>Journal</strong> at the <strong>Nuclear</strong>Energy Institute’s <strong>Nuclear</strong> EnergyAssembly in San Francisco, California inMay, 2010.Jeffrey MerrifieldJeffrey S. Merrifi eld joined The ShawGroup in August 2007 as seniorvice president of the Power Group.As a member of the Power Group’sexecutive team, Mr. Merrifi eld isthe remaining shares are owned by thegovernment of Kazakhstan and IHI whichis a Japanese manufacturing company.When I look back at the time I spenton at the NRC, from 1998 through 2007,that was a time period where there was atransition to what today we are calling “thenuclear renaissance.” The significantlyincreased domestic interest in nuclearpower that we are seeing in 2010, was laidout by the actions that I and other membersof the Commission undertook during themid to late 1990’s. So what appears to besignificant movement in the current timeframe was preceded by determined workby both the NRC and utilities to establishthe framework for the success that hasmanifested itself in the burgeoningrenaissance we are enjoying today.During that “pre-renaissance period”,you began to see the nacient beginningsof a shift in public support for power.Today, a solid majority of Americanssupport new nuclear power stations with60% to 70% of the population supportingthe construction of new generating units.In order to make all that happen, and inorder to be successful in deploying thesereactors, there was a significant amountfocused on enhancing the group’sexternal relationships, includingbusiness development, marketing andcommunications, government andregulatory affairs, customer relationsand strategic planning. Mr. Merrifi eldhas been particularly involved insupporting the group’s nuclear-relatedefforts.Mr. Merrifi eld served two terms (1998to 2007) as a U.S. Senate-confi rmedcommissioner of the United States<strong>Nuclear</strong> Regulatory Commission.Appointed by President Clintonand reappointed by President Bush,Mr. Merrifi eld served as one of fi veindividuals overseeing this independentCommission that regulates the safety andsecurity of the 104 operating nuclearpower plants in the United States.of work that had to be done by vendorslike Westinghouse to get their designsprepared and ready for deployment. Therealso had to be significant work at theNRC. The utilities had to work throughthat process as well. Shaw is honored tohave been selected to construct the Vogtleand the Summer units and today wehave almost 1,000 people on site at eachlocation moving earth and conductingearly site preparation activities. Thislevel of activity is a clear demonstrationof the fact that we’re moving forwardand that these plants will be built. Thereis a commitment and willingness onthe part of our clients to move forward,and we believe we have the capabilityto successfully get these plants on line.Once we are able to get a couple of theselarge plants through the pipeline, I believethere are many other utilities who will beconvinced that the renaissance is a realityand this will trigger further movement toorder new plants. Clearly, there are a largenumber of applications with the NRC. Wecertainly hope that more utilities followSouthern and SCANA’s, lead and actuallysign contracts and get those built.(Continued on page 34)32 www.<strong>Nuclear</strong><strong>Plant</strong><strong>Journal</strong>.com <strong>Nuclear</strong> <strong>Plant</strong> <strong>Journal</strong>, July-August 2010
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