Westinghouse’s Chinese construction programme reaches significant milestone
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Westinghouse marked a major milestone in the Chinese AP1000 construction programme in June when the concrete basemat was successfully laid at the last of the four AP1000 units being built there. This means that all four plants are now officially “under construction”, and all are on or ahead of schedule. In fact the basemat concrete pour at Haiyang Unit 2 was six weeks ahead of schedule – evidence of the value of series build, as the second, third and fourth plants have been reaping the benefits of lessons learned on the first plant – Sanmen Unit 1. |
At that lead plant – Sanmen 1 – progress has also been notable, with the third ring of the containment vessel set in place in September (see pictures). That plant remains on track to produce electricity for the Chinese grid in 2013. The China projects have a strong bearing on new build in Europe. Potential customers for the AP1000 in countries such as UK, Czech Republic and Poland, are watching closely as the on schedule performance in China (hopefully followed by similar success in the US) helps to give them confidence that AP1000 plants can be built on time in their own countries.
Westinghouse’s operations in Europe now account for around 30% of the company’s global turnover, and a similar proportion of the company’s employees are based in Europe. With that in mind, Westinghouse announced in the summer that the company is moving to a more regional-based way of working, and has established a new regional headquarters in Brussels under the leadership of Anders Jackson, who has been appointed Westinghouse President for the Europe, Middle East and Africa region.
Adrian Bull
Head of Stakeholder Relations
Westinghouse UK
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