15 Aug (NucNet): Westinghouse Electric Company has won a contract from Teollisuuden Voima Oyj (TVO), operator of Finland’s Olkiluoto nuclear power station, for the delivery of 12 advanced reactor internal pumps for the Olkiluoto-1 and -2 boiling water reactor (BWR) units, Westinghouse has said.
Under the contract, Westinghouse will be responsible for the management of the overall project, the installation of the pumps and commissioning.
Westinghouse will partner with KSB Aktiengesellschaft (KSB), a German producer of pumps and valves, for the manufacturing and testing of the equipment. Toshiba Corporation, owner of Westinghouse, will perform a full-scale equipment test in Japan.
The contract is worth a total of 40 million euros (about 53 million US dollars) and installation and testing are scheduled to take place during the 2016, 2017 and 2018 planned maintenance outages, Westinghouse said.
The reactor internal pumps are part of the primary circulation loop and ensure the circulation of water through the reactor core. Each BWR reactor has six internal pumps, and the new pumps are capable of producing a stronger flow through the core, TVO said.
TVO also said the current pumps have been in operation for 35 years and their replacement is one of the most significant aspects of the modernisation works being done at Olkiluoto-1 and -2.
In March 2014, Westinghouse won a contract for the delivery of core safety systems for Olkiluoto-1 and -2.
The Olkiluoto nuclear station has two commercially operational BWR units and one pressurised water reactor of the EPR design under construction.
