12 Mar (NucNet): South Carolina Electric and Gas Company (SCE&G) yesterday completed placement of the nuclear island basemat for Virgil C. Summer Unit 2 in South Carolina – the first new construction nuclear concrete to be poured in the US in three decades.
SCE&G and its partner, Santee Cooper, are building two Westinghouse AP1000 units at Summer, where one nuclear unit is already operating.
The basemat provides a foundation for the containment and auxiliary buildings that are within the nuclear island. Measuring about two metres in thickness, the basemat required approximately 7,000 cubic metres of concrete to cover an area about 80 metres long and 50 metres at its widest section.
The two-day foundation pour, also known as first concrete, is considered the formal start of construction on nuclear power plant projects.
About 1,550 workers are involved in constructing two new reactors at Summer, where Unit 1 has operated for 30 years. The new nuclear project will peak at about 3,000 workers over the course of three to four years, SCE&G said.
The two AP1000 units will start generating electricity in 2017 and 2018, SCE&G said.
The AP1000 is the only Generation III+ reactor to receive design certification from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Westinghouse is building four AP1000s in China and says five US utilities, including SCE&G, have chosen the technology for possible nuclear plant construction.
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