Ovation™ systems will provide control, monitoring, and diagnostics for key power generation processes at Sanmen and Haiyang nuclear power plants
PITTSBURGH (March 9, 2011) — Westinghouse Electric Company has awarded Emerson Process Management contracts to supply its Ovation™ expert control technology at four new Westinghouse AP1000® nuclear reactors in China. The award continues a long relationship between the two companies, with the Ovation control system or its predecessors already installed at most existing Westinghouse nuclear reactors.
The new reactors will help China cleanly, efficiently and safely generate additional baseload electricity to meet the country’s needs, which according to the World Nuclear Association are growing at more than 8 percent per year
Emerson’s Ovation system will be installed at the Sanmen Nuclear Power Plant in Zhejiang Province and at the Haiyang Nuclear Power Plant in Shandong Province. Each plant has two 1,000-megawatt reactors currently under construction, with more units planned. The first Sanmen unit is scheduled to come online in 2013; the first Haiyang unit is expected to begin commercial operation one year later.
For these units, Ovation technology will control power generation processes, provide an interface to operations and maintenance systems, and collect and distribute plant-wide information for process and power generation management. Emerson will supply a total of 380 cabinets and controllers, 220 workstations and 2,245 I/O modules.
Under separate contracts awarded previously, Emerson is also providing Fisher® control valves, TopWorx™ position sensors, and Bettis™ valve actuators for the Sanmen and Haiyang units.
Westinghouse technology is the basis for approximately one-half of the world’s operating nuclear plants, including 60 percent of those in the United States. The AP1000 design is the only Generation III+ design for nuclear power plants to have received design certification from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The AP1000 is fast becoming the new plant technology of choice throughout the world, including in the United States, where the AP1000 is the selected technology for more than one-half of the announced plants.
Emerson and Westinghouse have worked together in addressing the needs of the nuclear market since Emerson’s acquisition of Westinghouse’s non-nuclear I&C business in 1998. Emerson’s Ovation or WDPF control systems – or Westinghouse’s previous-generation systems such as the 7300 analog control system – already exist in virtually all Westinghouse-built Pressurized Water Reactors (PWRs). In 2007, the two companies signed a 10-year extension of an existing agreement for Emerson to provide key technology for automation of nuclear power plants that utilize the AP1000 and other plant designs.
“We are pleased to be part of the Sanmen and Haiyang projects,” said Steve Sonnenberg, president of Emerson Process Management. “With our agreement to provide technology for automating AP1000 nuclear reactors and the growing market for nuclear power, we look forward to working with Westinghouse on additional installations in the near future.”
