NEWBUILD CB&I Drills Into More Trouble

摘要

Chicago Bridge & Iron (CB&I) has had a tough time proving it could smooth out the kinks that plagued its predecessor the Shaw Group as a key contractor at the Vogtle and VC Summer nuclear newbuild projects. In the latest incident in February, CB&I workers accidentally cut some safety-related rebar — steel rods used to reinforce concrete — at Scana’s VC Summer reactor construction site and damaged the containment vessel. This is now under investigation by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) (NIW Feb.27’15). The misstep adds to the parade of quality assurance issues the Netherlands-based company has endured while building these first-of-a-kind projects, contributing to setbacks in the completion dates and disputes with the project owners over additional costs.