A History of Power Clientship
Sargent & Lundy shares its history with the history of the electric power industry. The industry was in its infancy when Frederick Sargent, a mechanical engineer, and Ayres Lundy, an electrical engineer, formed an independent engineering and consulting company in June of 1891. Sargent was one of Thomas Edison's most capable early associates, while Lundy had wide experience in electric railway innovation. Their company was dedicated to working with clients in the electric power business.
One of the company's first assignments was the pioneering design of Harrison Street Station for Chicago Edison Co in 1892. The first plant ever designed for condensing operation, Harrison Street was also Chicago's first central station and gave the client the most economical plant of its time. This project was the first of many bold explorations of diverse and continually evolving technologies that have helped Sargent & Lundy's clients through each era of power industry change.
Sargent & Lundy's nuclear power leadership began in the mid-1950s, when we designed the world's first boiling water reactor installation at Argonne National Laboratory and converted the Arco Borax III research reactor to an electricity producer. At the same time, a group of utilities retained Sargent & Lundy to analyze and report on this emerging option. Today, Sargent & Lundy has designed more than 30 increasingly advanced units and has been continuously engaged in nuclear power work since the beginning.
International work began in 1917 when Sargent & Lundy designed a 10-MW plant in Tocopilla, Chile for the Chile Exploration Company. Since then, Sargent & Lundy has continued expanding its base of clients worldwide.
Our exclusive focus on the electric power business has remained unchanged for more than 100 years. Sargent & Lundy is still working with its first utility client, as well as many other long-time clients. We have earned extensive repeat business and added new clients through our technical and project management know-how, our dependability for meeting client commitments, and our integrity for acting in the best interests of our clients.
| Firsts and Milestones in Power Achieved by Projects Designed by Sargent & Lundy | |
|---|---|
| 1894 | First plant designed for condensing operation, making it the most economical plant in the U.S.
Harrison Street
|
| 1903 | First station designed exclusively for turbine-driven generators. World's largest (5 MW) when it began operation. National Historical Mechanical Engineering Landmark.
Fisk Street |
| 1908 | First traveling water screens for the water intake systems.
Waukegan |
| 1914 | First large horizontal turbo-generator plant (25 MW).
Fisk Street |
| 1924 | First reheat turbine plant in the U.S.
Philo |
| 1929 | World's largest station (208 MW) for 23 years. National Historical Mechanical Engineering Landmark.
State Line |
| 1931 | First elimination of boiler room/turbine room wall in coal-fired plant.
Edgewater |
| 1942 | First commercial-size installation of cyclone furnace.
Calumet |
| 1950 | First pressurized furnace boiler station.
Knox Lee |
| 1953 | First industrial cyclone-fired boiler with pressurized furnace.
Barberton |
| 1955 | First commercial use of nuclear power.
Arco Borax III |
| 1956 | First boiling water reactor (BWR) nuclear power station. Nuclear Historic Landmark for demonstrating the practicality of direct-boiling power reactors.
Argonne National Laboratory EBWR |
| 1959 | First U.S. utility combined-cycle plant.
Rio Pecos |
| 1963 | World's largest combined-cycle station (235 MW) when it began operation.
Horseshoe Lake
First 500-MW class power station.
Will County |
| 1969 | Southwest Experimental Fast Oxide Reactor, honored as a Nuclear Historic Landmark for resolving a key LMFBR safety issue by demonstrating the inherent negative prompt-Doppler power coefficient in mixed plutonium-uranium oxide cycle.
SEFOR |
| 1970 | First 800-MW class nuclear unit to begin operation.
Dresden 2 |
| 1973 | First 1000-MW class nuclear plant to begin operation. Constructed in the shortest time at least cost per kW generation capacity for any U.S. plant in that size category. Base mats were the largest continuous reinforced concrete pours in the U.S. construction industry exclusive of dam construction.
Zion |
| 1979 | First prestressed concrete reactor vessel.
Fort St Vrain |
| 1985 | First safety-related mechanical draft cooling towers. Most Innovative Structure Award from Structural Engineers Association of Illinois.
Byron
First duplicate nuclear power plants to be authorized (1972) in the U.S.
Bryon/Braidwood |
| 1987 | Best Structure Award for innovative design of primary containment and drywell structures from Structural Engineers Association of Illinois.
Clinton |
| 1989 | World's largest solar-power electric generator (80 MW) when it began operation.
SEGS VIII |
| 1992 | First supercritical station in the PRC. Engineering Excellence Achievement Award from Consulting Engineers Council of Illinois. International Pacesetting Power Plant Award from "Electric Power International" magazine.
Shidongkou Second Power Plant |
| 1993 | World's largest circulating fluidized bed combustion power plant when it began operation (201-MW gross). Engineering Excellence Honor Award from Consulting Engineers Council of Illinois. Project of the Year award from PennWell at Power-Gen International.
Point Aconi |
| 1994 | 150-mile long 500-kV line significantly bolstering the reliability and power transfer capacity between California and the Pacific Northwest for Transmission Agency of Northern California. Recognized with Engineering Excellence Achievement Award from Consulting Engineers Council of Illinois.
California-Oregon Transmission Project |
| 1995 | First fully integrated commercial coal gasification combined-cycle repowering project in the U.S. Engineering Excellence Grand Award from American Consulting Engineers Council.
Wabash River
Most advanced nuclear station in the world when it began operation in Korea. Project of the Year award from PennWell at Power-Gen International. Engineering Excellence Special Achievement Award from Consulting Engineers Council of Illinois.
Yonggwang 3&4 |
| 2000 | Innovative Decommissioning Power System recognized with Project of the Year award from PennWell at Power-Gen International.
Big Rock Point Nuclear Power Plant Decommissioning |
| 2003 | 1750-MW combined-cycle repowering project recognized with Project of the Year award from PennWell at Power-Gen International.
Bayside Station Repowering |
| 2004 | Nuclear station restart project recognized with a Project of the Year award from PennWell and the Canadian Consulting Engineering Schreyer Award.
Bruce A 3&4 Nuclear Generating Station Restart |
| 2006 | Plant expansion adding a 555-MW combined-cycle and 275-MW combined-cycle recognized as Outstanding Gas-Fired Project of the Year by PennWell for advanced environmental control, creative measures to minimize neighborhood impact, and cost-effective new capacity. Also recognized by the Western Council of Construction Consumers (WCCC).
Santan Expansion Project |
| 2007 | New 790-MW supercritical station, the first plant in the U.S. to use advanced supercritical technology and the first supercritical plant to be commissioned in the U.S. in over 15 years. Named "Plant of the Year" by Power magazine and Coal-Fired Project of the Year at Power-Gen International by PennWell.
Walter Scott, Jr. Energy Center Unit 4 (Council Bluffs Energy Center 4) |
| 2008 |
First use of HDPE piping for U.S. nuclear power station safety-related application. High-density polyethylene pipe was used to replace carbon steel for buried
portions of the essential service water system (ESW) system. A Sargent & Lundy team engineered the replacement, prepared the modification packages, and provided
extensive support for the analyses and regulatory process submittals that the station needed to obtain NRC approval for this first-of-a-kind use. The station was
recognized by the Nuclear Energy Institute with a 2009 TIP Award (Top Industry Practice) for this pioneering work.
Callaway Plant
|
| 2009 | Combined-cycle repowering recognized with 2009 Pacesetter Plant Award by Combined Cycle Journal. Project added generating capacity to a 30-year-old station, switched primary fuel from oil to gas, and reduced fuel costs and emissions.
Arvah B Hopkins Generating Station Unit 2 Repowering |
Note: Date indicates year project began service or award bestowed.