W fuel fabrication, AP1000 deals with China

摘要

Westinghouse Electric Company announced on January 18 that it has reached an agreement with China Baotou Nuclear Fuel whereby Westinghouse will design, manufacture, and install fuel fabrication equipment to allow the manufacture of fuel for the fleet of Westinghouse-design AP1000 pressurized water reactors being built in China. The contract is valued at $35 million. ■ Westinghouse also announced on January 18 that it has signed a two-year extension of its agreement with China's State Nuclear Power Technology Corporation (SNPTC) on continued deployment of Wes-tinghouse's AP1000 in China, along with service, maintenance, technology development, and strategic investment. The original contract for the import of the API000 to China, signed in 2008, called for full transfer of the technology, and China had expected the transfer to be complete with the fourth reactor, Haiyang-2. Chinese industry is also at work on a further evolution of the design, to produce a 1400-MWe reactor. The extension indicates a choice by SNPTC to continue a relationship with Westinghouse, whether the technology transfer is taking place as scheduled or not.