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How is it that four AP1000 reactors are built and running in China, that the companies building nuclear reactors have a long and apparently successful history o

How is it that four AP1000 reactors are built and running in China, that the companies building nuclear reactors have a long and apparently successful history of providing reactors to the US Navy, and yet trying to build two in the US bankrupts the company?

philipkglass 5y ago
There used to be four under construction in the US. Those in South Carolina were left partially built instead of spending even more money trying to complete them after the project went off the rails. Regional newspapers have gone into great depth explaining what went wrong. Here's a recent article from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution about problems building the Georgia reactors: "How Georgia nuclear project’s big finish went so wrong" https://www.ajc.com/news/business/how-georgia-nuclear-projects-big-finish-went-so-wrong/NWPE4XPG6NC5JJTMYTVJK4W2NQ/ https://www.ajc.com/news/business/how-georgia-nuclear-projec... There were even worse problems in South Carolina that actually led to federal criminal convictions: "Former Westinghouse Executive Charged with Conspiracy, Fraud in Connection with V.C. Summer Nuclear Project" Former Westinghouse Electric Co. Senior Vice President Jeffrey A. Benjamin was charged with 16 felony counts, including conspiracy, wire fraud, securities fraud, and causing a publicly traded company to keep a false record, for his part in failing to truthfully report information regarding construction of new nuclear units at the V.C. Summer nuclear plant in South Carolina. Benjamin is the fourth individual to be charged in the ongoing federal investigation. Former SCANA CEO Kevin Marsh, former SCANA Executive Vice President Stephen Byrne, and former Westinghouse Vice President Carl Churchman have all pleaded guilty to federal felony charges for their roles in the matter. https://www.powermag.com/former-westinghouse-executive-charged-with-conspiracy-fraud-in-connection-with-v-c-summer-nuclear-project/ https://www.powermag.com/former-westinghouse-executive-charg... Here's a big investigative series that the Charleston Post and Courier did about the problems with the VC Summer expansion in South Carolina: https://www.postandcourier.com/business/vc_summer_nuclear_project/ https://www.postandcourier.com/business/vc_summer_nuclear_pr...
bobsmooth 5y ago
If I had to guess, neither China nor the US Navy care about generating a profit from the reactors.
Mvandenbergh 5y ago
One of the advantages of China's large and diverse reactor programme is that when they are building FOAK designs and something comes up that holds up the work (as it did on both their AP1000 and their EPR builds), they put their nuclear qualified workforce on buses and move them to other builds. Compare that to Flamanville, Olkiluoto, and the US AP1000 builds where every time there was a work stoppage to review a detailed design element, a massive and expensive workforce just had some paid chill time.

philipkglass 5y ago

There used to be four under construction in the US. Those in South Carolina were left partially built instead of spending even more money trying to complete them after the project went off the rails. Regional newspapers have gone into great depth explaining what went wrong. Here's a recent article from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution about problems building the Georgia reactors: "How Georgia nuclear project’s big finish went so wrong" https://www.ajc.com/news/business/how-georgia-nuclear-projects-big-finish-went-so-wrong/NWPE4XPG6NC5JJTMYTVJK4W2NQ/ https://www.ajc.com/news/business/how-georgia-nuclear-projec... There were even worse problems in South Carolina that actually led to federal criminal convictions: "Former Westinghouse Executive Charged with Conspiracy, Fraud in Connection with V.C. Summer Nuclear Project" Former Westinghouse Electric Co. Senior Vice President Jeffrey A. Benjamin was charged with 16 felony counts, including conspiracy, wire fraud, securities fraud, and causing a publicly traded company to keep a false record, for his part in failing to truthfully report information regarding construction of new nuclear units at the V.C. Summer nuclear plant in South Carolina. Benjamin is the fourth individual to be charged in the ongoing federal investigation. Former SCANA CEO Kevin Marsh, former SCANA Executive Vice President Stephen Byrne, and former Westinghouse Vice President Carl Churchman have all pleaded guilty to federal felony charges for their roles in the matter. https://www.powermag.com/former-westinghouse-executive-charged-with-conspiracy-fraud-in-connection-with-v-c-summer-nuclear-project/ https://www.powermag.com/former-westinghouse-executive-charg... Here's a big investigative series that the Charleston Post and Courier did about the problems with the VC Summer expansion in South Carolina: https://www.postandcourier.com/business/vc_summer_nuclear_project/ https://www.postandcourier.com/business/vc_summer_nuclear_pr...

bobsmooth 5y ago

If I had to guess, neither China nor the US Navy care about generating a profit from the reactors.

Mvandenbergh 5y ago

One of the advantages of China's large and diverse reactor programme is that when they are building FOAK designs and something comes up that holds up the work (as it did on both their AP1000 and their EPR builds), they put their nuclear qualified workforce on buses and move them to other builds. Compare that to Flamanville, Olkiluoto, and the US AP1000 builds where every time there was a work stoppage to review a detailed design element, a massive and expensive workforce just had some paid chill time.