Local experience and long working hours speed progress
The workers in their blue overalls and yellow helmets waste little time, ignoring the view of the South China Sea. "They don't hang around," says Rémi Sénac, the Areva representative at Taishan, Guangdong province, where work on the first two European pressurised reactors (EPRs) is going well. France's nuclear conglomerate takes pride in the progress being made on the third-generation reactors sold to China in November 2007. Things have worked out much better here than at Flamanville, in western France, and at Olkiluoto in Finland.
The first reactor, currently no more than a metal cylinder 39 metres high, stands in the middle of a lunar landscape extending over 450 hectares, served by some 20 cranes. Nearby, the dome which will cap the structure containing the 1,660-MW reactor is waiting for its last two rings to be added.
The symbolic act of lifting the dome on to the building is scheduled for May 2011, a month ahead of its French counterpart, on which work started earlier. The difference reflects the steep learning curve for new technology. Engineering work on the two Chinese reactors draws on the experience Areva has gained on the other two jobs. The number of subcontractors has also been limited to simplify the division of labour, and changes have been made to several welding procedures.
Areva's partner, the China Guangdong Nuclear Power Company (CGNPC), one of the two companies that dominate the Chinese market for civilian nuclear power, also benefits from the experience of its own subcontractors, who have been working at full capacity since the 1980s when China started trying to reduce its dependence on coal.
"Their civil engineering firms haven't stopped building power stations since," says Roger Seban, the deputy chief executive of TSNPC, the joint venture that has enabled the French utility company EDF to take part in the project.
Another essential ingredient is Chinese labour; there are 9,000 workers currently on site. Instead of working three eight-hour shifts, as is common in Europe, the people working for Hua Xing, the concrete contractor on the first Taishan reactor, work 10-hour stints, seven days a week.
Financial incentives help keep the workers and contractors on track. "One of the most important factors for the economics of a project like this is sticking to the original schedule," says Eric Neisse, a deputy manager at Areva-China. Especially since CGNPC is competing with another state-owned company, which has opted to install a third-generation reactor built by Toshiba-Westinghouse.
Every summer typhoons sweep through Guangdong. A dyke had to built along the coast, with channels cut into the surrounding hills to divert the rain. The seawater is warmer here than in northern Europe, so a 4km tunnel had to be bored for the cooling system on each reactor to draw in cold water from the sea.
The two reactors should be commissioned at the end of 2013 and in autumn 2014 respectively. In the meantime, Areva hopes to have started work on more reactors thanks to Wecan, another joint venture in which CGNPC has taken a majority share, an essential point in this strategically vital sector for China. As everyone is quick to point out, the Taishan site could accommodate six reactors. Work on two of them is just waiting for government approval. In fact, to save time, the earthworks are already complete.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/dec/28/china-areva-taishan-nuclear-thibault
The workers in their blue overalls and yellow helmets waste little time, ignoring the view of the South China Sea. "They don't hang around," says Rémi Sénac, the Areva representative at Taishan, Guangdong province, where work on the first two European pressurised reactors (EPRs) is going well. France's nuclear conglomerate takes pride in the progress being made on the third-generation reactors sold to China in November 2007. Things have worked out much better here than at Flamanville, in western France, and at Olkiluoto in Finland.
The first reactor, currently no more than a metal cylinder 39 metres high, stands in the middle of a lunar landscape extending over 450 hectares, served by some 20 cranes. Nearby, the dome which will cap the structure containing the 1,660-MW reactor is waiting for its last two rings to be added.
The symbolic act of lifting the dome on to the building is scheduled for May 2011, a month ahead of its French counterpart, on which work started earlier. The difference reflects the steep learning curve for new technology. Engineering work on the two Chinese reactors draws on the experience Areva has gained on the other two jobs. The number of subcontractors has also been limited to simplify the division of labour, and changes have been made to several welding procedures.
Areva's partner, the China Guangdong Nuclear Power Company (CGNPC), one of the two companies that dominate the Chinese market for civilian nuclear power, also benefits from the experience of its own subcontractors, who have been working at full capacity since the 1980s when China started trying to reduce its dependence on coal.
"Their civil engineering firms haven't stopped building power stations since," says Roger Seban, the deputy chief executive of TSNPC, the joint venture that has enabled the French utility company EDF to take part in the project.
Another essential ingredient is Chinese labour; there are 9,000 workers currently on site. Instead of working three eight-hour shifts, as is common in Europe, the people working for Hua Xing, the concrete contractor on the first Taishan reactor, work 10-hour stints, seven days a week.
Financial incentives help keep the workers and contractors on track. "One of the most important factors for the economics of a project like this is sticking to the original schedule," says Eric Neisse, a deputy manager at Areva-China. Especially since CGNPC is competing with another state-owned company, which has opted to install a third-generation reactor built by Toshiba-Westinghouse.
Every summer typhoons sweep through Guangdong. A dyke had to built along the coast, with channels cut into the surrounding hills to divert the rain. The seawater is warmer here than in northern Europe, so a 4km tunnel had to be bored for the cooling system on each reactor to draw in cold water from the sea.
The two reactors should be commissioned at the end of 2013 and in autumn 2014 respectively. In the meantime, Areva hopes to have started work on more reactors thanks to Wecan, another joint venture in which CGNPC has taken a majority share, an essential point in this strategically vital sector for China. As everyone is quick to point out, the Taishan site could accommodate six reactors. Work on two of them is just waiting for government approval. In fact, to save time, the earthworks are already complete.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/dec/28/china-areva-taishan-nuclear-thibault
