News | Westinghouse Nuclear

Westinghouse Delivers Outage Services for Operating Nuclear Power Plants Worldwide

Written by Westinghouse Electric Company | June 1, 2017

By mobilizing more than 4,000 personnel worldwide to support Spring 2017 outages, we’re ensuring that operating plants continue to generate clean energy from nuclear power.

For more than 30 years, Westinghouse has provided highly specialized field services that enable our customers to reduce their overall outage duration and associated costs. Backed by Westinghouse’s advanced technology and decades of practical experience, our skilled workforce has helped utilities extend component life, maximize power output, and operate safely and cost-efficiently.

We recognized more than two years ago that Spring 2017 would be one of the largest outage seasons the industry has ever seen. We went to work to ensure that we would have the manpower and resources available to meet the demand — and we do!

Committed Westinghouse crews are working at power plants in the United States, Canada, Argentina, Mexico, France, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, Brazil and Ukraine. Our craftspeople, engineers, welders, technicians and machinists bring their pride and professionalism to every job. More than 4,000 dedicated men and women are performing vital refueling, services, inspection, installation and modification work on a regularly scheduled basis to keep nuclear power plants in peak operating condition.

This season we have deployed LiveCAN™ — our state-of-the-art audio, video and data communications system that provides real-time, two-way linkage between outage project managers and workers inside the reactor building — at many of our customers’ sites.

Furthermore, we now have the capability to support three baffle bolt replacement campaigns in parallel. We also have developed and fabricated tools for installing simplified baffle former bolts, allowing easier setup and small-scale replacement at a lower cost, and improved replacement bolts whose advanced materials resist future degradation.

Our global accomplishments include the following:

  • Selection by our customers to provide both large- and small-scope services at more than 100 commercial nuclear plants worldwide.
  • New plant dose records set for refueling project activities.
  • Station records set for core offload activities.
  • Consistent completion of eddy current testing on or ahead of schedule.
  • Flawless installation of turbine control systems.
  • Successful installation of more than 800 steam generator sleeves.
  • Successful installation of borax baskets.
  • Safe recovery of a fallen steam generator in containment.
  • First U.S. deployment of the Fuel Assembly Suction Tool, or FAST, which cleans debris from the reactor’s fuel assembly.

Our customers look to us as their experienced partner for their outage solutions. Our goal is the same– to execute safe, reliable outages while supporting Delivering the Nuclear Promise through efficiency and cost-effective performance. What’s more, the most highly-skilled and experienced personnel make Westinghouse the valuable resource our customer partners know and trust.

In the Americas and Asia Regions, contact Steve Ira at +1 412-996-6888. In Europe, contact Dave Harris at +1 803-979-0407 to learn more about our outage products and services.