Services for New Nuclear Plants
Sargent & Lundy is highly qualified to engineer, design, plan, evaluate, and manage large, complex nuclear projects. We have been authorized to design 32 new nuclear units and have engineered numerous major operating plant modifications. Our nuclear engineering and design experience includes successive generations of BWR, PWR, and CANDU stations.
Representative projects
- Engineering, Detailed Design, and Procurement Activities
- Combined Operating License (COL) Preparation
- Early Site Permit Preparation
- Owners Engineer
- EPC Technical Requirements
- EPRI Nuclear Power Generation Technology Assessment
- Pebble Bed Modular Reactor
- Korean Nuclear Program
Engineering, Detailed Design, and Procurement Activities
Since 2007, Sargent & Lundy has been providing extensive support for the South Texas Project Units 3&4. Our involvement has included performing the detailed design and engineering of the Nuclear Island that consists of the reactor building, control building, radwaste building, ultimate heat sink, buried diesel generator fuel oil storage vaults, and associated tunnels. Detailed engineering was slowed down in Spring 2011 pending the U.S. government loan guarantee and future commitments from Nuclear Innovation North America - NINA (jointly owned by NRG Energy and Toshiba Corporation).
The scope of our procurement activities included preparation of approximately 135 procurement and installation specifications and involvement in the bid evaluation and selection process. Sargent & Lundy’s scope also included development of the detailed layout and design, supporting analyses, and construction drawings for erection of the structures. For HVAC, electrical system, and structural design, our work also included additional engineering/design such as seismic analysis, structural design of structures, and designing security, HVAC, and electrical distribution systems.
Combined Operating License (COL) Preparation
Sargent & Lundy, as the leader of a joint venture team, prepared two COL Applications (COLA) for Progress Energy proposed new plants. The team has continued to support Progress Energy with responses to NRC’s RAI (Requests for Additional Information) activities, SER reviews, and meetings with the ACRS. One was prepared, submitted, and accepted by the NRC in February 2008 for twin AP1000s at the Shearon Harris site, and the second COLA for twin AP1000s at a greenfield site in Levy County, Florida was submitted to NRC and accepted in October 2008. Each COLA includes:
- An FSAR
- An Environmental Report
- A Site Redress Plan (Levy County only), plus various COLA parts as required by the regulations, including an Emergency Plan, Security Plan, and QA Program all in accordance with 10 CFR 52 and the guidance provided by NEI 04-01.
Sargent & Lundy also supported the preparation of two COLAs for UniStar Nuclear, which are based on using the Areva NP (USA) EPR. One was for the potential Bell Bend Nuclear Power Plant for PPL and the second for the potential Nine Mile Point Unit 3 for UniStar Nuclear. For both, we prepared conceptual design reports, analyses, and the associated FSAR sections for site-specific portions of the COLA. Each COLA included an FSAR and Environmental Report, plus various COLA parts as required by the regulations, including an Emergency Plan, Security Plan, and QA Program. The Sargent & Lundy team has continued to support UniStar Nuclear with responses to NRC RAIs and support for permit drawing work.
Early Site Permit Preparation
Sargent & Lundy recently supported the preparation of an Early Site Permit (ESP) Application for a potential new nuclear station for PSEG. The ESP Application was submitted to the NRC in May 2010. The ESP Application enables the NRC to review and pre-approve the plant site for future construction of new nuclear units and enable the owner of the potential new station to conduct design and site-specific evaluations before making a decision to build. The Sargent & Lundy team has continued to support PSEG with responses to NRC RAIs.
Owners Engineer
Sargent & Lundy completed an evaluation of several potential sites for Exelon for possible development of two new nuclear units, proposed as the Victoria County Station. Multiple technologies were considered in the evaluation. We prepared EPC Specification technical requirements, performed initial design of major site features, and also reviewed specific COLA sections. We provided Quality Assurance support, including evaluation of third party QA programs, test programs, and oversight of international vendors. Our scope also included preparing an overall integrated project schedule and cost analysis modeling among other diverse services.
Sargent & Lundy also recently provided Owners Engineer support for developing various studies for nuclear development and Early Site Permit Application (ESPA), including a site utilization plan, for an existing PSEG Nuclear site. Our scope included performing a feasibility study for siting a new nuclear plant and a reactor technology evaluation study as well as a reactor technology plant layout study and related studies addressing numerous facets of conceptual design. Sargent & Lundy also performed environmental and construction permitting plan development and power transmission and distribution support tasks and provided support of client interface with external agencies.
For the potential Levy Nuclear Plant, Owners Engineer work includes:- Developing an integrated project schedule
- Performing 3rd party reviews of reports and evaluations prepared by others
- Developing conceptual design alternatives for site-specific systems
EPC Technical Requirements
Sargent & Lundy has developed for multiple owners the technical requirements specifications that will be used in the EPC contracts with reactor suppliers and/or their consortia. These documents include a thorough review and applicability determination of over 5,000 EPRI ALWR Utility Requirements, specific lessons learned from operating plants obtained from INPO documents, and equipment-specific requirements based on our decades of experience in the nuclear industry.
EPRI Nuclear Power Generation Technology Assessment
Sargent & Lundy prepared for the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) a Technical Assessment Guide (TAG) on new Nuclear Power Generation Technologies. The objective of this TAG was to serve as a reference for new generation planning for potential owners and operators of companies interested in considering future nuclear generation.
We provided descriptions of the new generation technologies, their estimated construction and operating costs, and associated technical information. The TAG also included current status and potential projections for development and/or commercialization activities of these technologies over the next 5 to 15 years. We also addressed issues and activities related to gaining an understanding of new nuclear generation technologies as they relate to planning, engineering, and project development.
Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR)
The PBMR is being designed in South Africa and is one of several new generation nuclear designs currently being evaluated by the international power industry. Sargent & Lundy personnel provided nuclear design experience and expertise in:
- Mechanical auxiliary systems
- Electrical systems
- I&C systems
- Plant general arrangement design
- Modular building design
- Cost reduction
- Licensing efforts
- Equipment procurement cost estimates
- Bulk material procurement cost estimates
Korean Nuclear Program
From 1987 to 2004, Sargent & Lundy played a significant role in developing state-of-the-art nuclear plants in the Republic of Korea (ROK). We performed design for Yonggwang (YGN) 3&4 and Ulchin 3&4 as part of our initiative to maintain our leadership in the nuclear power field. The Ulchin 3&4 plant design, which has been adopted as the Korean standardized design, is based on the YGN 3&4 design, which is a first-of-a-kind design developed by Sargent & Lundy and KOPEC. These first-of-a-kind plants were completed on schedule and under budget.
