Information Papers

Heavy Manufacturing of Power Plants 

December 2008

 

When the first- and second-generation nuclear power plants were built, they mostly came from integrated suppliers such as Westinghouse in each country, who required little from external suppliers.  Today most of a new plant comes from a range of international suppliers, and vendor companies such as Westinghouse are focused on design, engineering and project management.  There is demand from customers for maximum local supply, which often means a high level of technology transfer.  Westinghouse's readiness to transfer the technology for its AP1000 to China was a major factor in its selection.

For very large generation 3+ reactors, production of the pressure vessel requires, or is best undertaken by, forging presses of about 14-15,000 tonnes capacity which accept steel ingots of 500-600 tonnes.  These are not common, and individual large presses do not have high throughput – about four pressure vessels per year appears to be common at present, fitted in with other work, though the potential is greater than this.  Westinghouse is constrained at present in that the AP1000 pressure vessel closure head and three complex steam generator parts can only be made by JSW.  Areva has a little more choice.

Reactor vendors prefer large forgings to be integral, as single products, but it is possible to use split forgings which are welded together.  These welds then need checking through the life of the plant.

Westinghouse says that the minimum requirement for making the largest AP1000 components is a 15,000 tonne press taking 350 tonne ingots.

The very heavy forging capacity in operation today is in Japan (Japan Steel Works), China (China First Heavy Industries) and Russia (OMX Izhora).  New capacity is being built by JSW and in South Korea (Doosan), France (Le Creusot) and is planned in UK (Sheffield Forgemesters) and India (Larsen & Toubro).  In China the Harbin Boiler Works and Shanghai Electric Group are bidding for AP1000 work which will require very heavy forging, so they can be expected to install that capacity rapidly if required.  Nothing in North America currently approaches these enterprises.

However, another development is Westinghouse going upstream and setting up factories in USA and China to produce modules for AP1000 reactors.  In the USA Global Modular Solutions, a joint venture with Shaw Group, is building a large factory in Louisiana, to begin production in 2009.  In China a similar factory was opened in July 2008 by Shandong Nuclear Power Construction Group, apparently with 64% held by SNPTC and 29% by CNEC.

Suppliers of nuclear equipment must be qualified and quality controlled.  The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (AMSE) nuclear accreditation known as N-stamp is internationally recognized.  N-stamp means that the authorized vendor has produced the commercial nuclear-grade components in accordance with the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Nuclear Codes and Standards.  It applies to both design and fabrication of components.  ISO-9001 is increasingly important.

The following fills in some detail:

Japan 

The largest and best-known supplier of heavy forgings is Japan Steel Works (JSW), founded in 1907 by two British companies and a Japanese partner – Hokkaido Steel & Iron Co.  It produces large forgings for reactor pressure vessels, steam generators and turbine shafts, and claims 80% of the world market for large forged components for nuclear plants.  It has the distinction of supplying the pressure vessels for the first two 1650 MWe Areva EPR plants in Finland and France.   It is contracted to supply Areva with large forged parts until at least 2016.  Areva has said that this, along with its own capacity and other partnerships, will secure its supplies of large components for the five to six nuclear plants per year it expects to build in the medium term.  Areva has also acquired 1.3% equity in JSW.   
http://www.jsw.co.jp/en/

At JSW's Muroran plant on Hokkaido it has 3000 to 14,000 tonne hydraulic forging presses, the latter able to take 600-tonne steel ingots, and a 12,000 tonne pipe-forming press.  At present its capacity is only four reactor pressure vessels and associated components per year, but this is set to triple to twelve by mid 2012.  A JPY 50 billion ($523 million) expansion is underway to mid 2011, and a second phase of JPY 30 billion ($314 million) will be complete the following year.  Muroran also manufactures steam generator components, generator & turbine rotor shafts, clad steel plates and turbine casings for nuclear power plants.

JSW has been manufacturing forgings for nuclear plant components to US Nuclear Regulatory Commission standards since 1974, and around 130 JSW reactor pressure vessels are in service around the world.  The company has said that one of its main targets is to supply nuclear reactor pressure vessels to the Chinese and American markets, and it has advance orders from GE-Hitachi for ABWR and ESBWR components, as well as EPR pressure vessels.  New orders are coming from China and USA s well as Europe, and more from Japan are expected.

IHI Corporation, formerly Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries, is one of Japan's leading heavy machinery manufacturers, with its 19th and 20th century origins in shipbuilding.  Its Energy Plant segment provides boilers, gas turbines, nuclear power equipment, pressure vessels and oil and gas plants.  It holds a 3% interest in Westinghouse and collaborates with Toshiba in building power plants.  It expects to make pressure vessels for Toshiba and Westinghouse nuclear plants.  A three-way agreement with Toshiba and Doosan in 2008 is expected to result in Doosan's expertise being available to IHI.
http://www.ihi.co.jp/index-e.html

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. (MHI) will spend JPY 15 billion ($138 million) to double its capacity to make nuclear reactor pressure vessels and other large nuclear components by 2011.  However, it does not have its own forging capacity.  Also MHI will triple production space and add processing tools at its factory in Akashi, Hyogo Prefecture.  The company aims to reduce the time to make a reactor vessel from three years to two, and to triple annual sales to 600 billion yen in ten years from 200 billion yen in 2007.  MHI has contracts to supply two 1700 MWe APWR nuclear reactors to TXU/Luminant in Texas for Comanche Peak, and now expects orders for about four reactors in Japan.  Currently the Kobe shipyard, established in 1905, makes reactor pressure vessels up to 590 tonnes for the APWR.  In 2007 it reached a milestone of 50 reactor vessel heads for domestic and overseas nuclear plants and 100 steam generators.
http://www.mhi.co.jp/en/index.html

Kobe Steel manufactures forged pressure vessels up to 2000 tonnes, 6.8 m diameter and with 450 mm walls for the oil industry.
http://www.kobelco.co.jp/english/mach-eng/products/energy/pressure/index.html
Babcock-Hitachi KK was set up by Babcock & Wilcox of UK in 1908 as a boiler parts supplier. In 1953 it became a joint venture of Hitachi Ltd with B & W and in 1987 the Hitachi Group took it over.  It produces reactor pressure vessels, steam generators, containment vessels and other nuclear power equipment.  It has supplied 15 pressure vessels for nuclear plants and is also focused on major components for high temperature gas-cooled reactors and fast breeder reactors.
http://www.bhk.co.jp/english/2energy/04nuclear/nc0.html

The Japan Casting & Forging Corporation was founded in 1970 as a joint venture of Nippon Steel Corp. and Mitsubishi Steel Manufacturing Co.  It commissioned an 8000 tonne press the following year and has expanded operations since.  It claims to be able to forge 500 tonne ingots.
http://www.jcfc.jp/e/index.html

South Korea 

Doosan Heavy Industries is currently undertaking a major investment in casting and forging capacity, including a 17,000 tonne forging press which will come on line about 2010.   It has contracts from Westinghouse and Shaw to supply reactor pressure vessels and steam generators for four new AP1000 reactors in USA, as well as two of the four being built in China at Sanmen and Haiyang.  Doosan has received about US$ 700 million worth of contracts from Westinghouse since May 2008 for nuclear reactors and other equipment.  It also has an agreement with IHI which is related to expanding production of heavy components.  It expects to win a record $9.4 billion of orders in 2008, with about 60% coming from overseas.  It also has a new arrangement with IHI (see above).
http://www.doosanheavy.com/eng/index.asp

Doosan also has an agreement with China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) for supply of heavy forgings and equipment for further projects in China, apparently in the 1000 MWe category. 

China 

China First Heavy Industries (CFHI) was founded in 1954 and is now one of China's key industrial enterprises.  It produces pressure vessels and pressurizers for nuclear power plants up to 1080 MWe (Hongyanhe), and components for Qinshan.  It is bidding to supply pressure vessels and steam generators for China's second two AP1000 reactors.  It has been utilizing a 12,500 tonne press but commissioned a 15,000 tonne open-die hydraulic press at end of 2006 – currently claimed to be the world's largest.  CFHI announced in December 2007 that it had gained approval from the National Development and Reform Commission to invest CNY 2.3 billion (US$ 337 million) in expanding its production capacity.  Located in Qiqihar, Heilongjiang Province in Northeast China, the project is going to double the company's annual production of molten steel and increase pressed forging capacity to 240,000 tonnes per year.
http://www.cfhi.com/

China's Harbin Boiler Co. (formerly Harbin Boiler Works) founded in 1954 is the largest utility boiler manufacturer in the country and is also bidding to supply pressure vessels and steam generators for China's second two AP1000 reactors.  It has been producing steam generators for plants up to 600 MWe and has supplied 600 utility boilers with a total capacity of over 53,000 MW, covering one third of the total installed capacity of thermal units manufactured domestically in more than 180 power plants in 29 Chinese provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions, plus exports to 23 countries.  It has an 8000 tonne press.  Parent company Harbin Power Equipment Co. Ltd (HPEC) is supplying 1200 MWe steam turbines and generators for the four Sanmen and Haiyang AP1000 units under licence from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI).
http://www.hbc.com.cn/INTRODUCTION_ENGLISH.htm

China's Shanghai Electric Group, founded in 1925, includes heavy engineering and it manufactures pressure vessels, steam generators and pressurizers for PWRs through its subsidiary Shanghai Boiler Works Ltd.  It is the third bidder to supply pressure vessels and steam generators for China's second two AP1000 reactors. 
http://www.chinasec.com/en/index.asp

The Donfang Boiler Group Co Ltd manufactures large capacity power plant boilers including components of PWRs and is reported as working with Areva to manufacture all heavy nuclear components for Ling Ao phase 2 and other CGNPC projects.  In November 2007 a 68% share of it, plus all of Dongfang Turbine Co, was purchased from the state by Dongfang Electrical Machinery Co (DE) for US$ 2.8 billion.  It also has a link with Babcock-Hitachi.
http://www.dongfang.com.cn/
In 2008 a new factory was commissioned to produce structural, piping and equipment modules for new nuclear power plants utilizing Westinghouse's AP1000 technology.  Shandong Nuclear Power Construction Group built that facility, which has the capacity to support the construction of two AP1000s each year, in just 11 months.

India 

In India, Larsen & Toubro Ltd., the country's biggest engineering and construction company, makes reactor pressure vessels for the country's PHWRs and fast breeder reactor, and steam generators.  It plans capacity for ultra-large forgings and holds ASME N-stamp accreditation.  It has been involved in supply of equipment, systems and services for nearly all the PHWR reactors that have been indigenously built, including manufacture of calandrias, end-shields, steam generators, primary heat transport system and heat exchangers.

Larsen & Toubro plans to form a 20 billion rupee ($463 million) venture with state-run Nuclear Power Corp. of India (NPCIL) for domestic and export nuclear forgings.  According to Government officials, discussions are under way with French firms for industrial cooperation in the manufacture of PWR equipment in India.  This would be to enhance the competitiveness of French reactors worldwide.
http://www.larsentoubro.com

Following the 2008 removal of trade restrictions, Indian companies led by Reliance Power (RPower), NPCIL and Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) plan to invest over US$ 50 billion in the next five years to expand their manufacturing base in the nuclear energy sector. 

State-owned BHEL plans to spend $7.5 billion in two years building plants to supply components for reactors of 1,600 MWe.  It also plans to set up a 50-50 venture with NPCIL that will supply components for nuclear plants of 700 MWe, 1,000 MWe and 1,600 MWe and will seek overseas partners to provide technology for these enterprises.  BHEL has a joint venture with Heavy Engineering Corp for making forgings for nuclear power plants.  BHEL is planning to set up a greenfield manufacturing base in India for nuclear forgings and is in talks with UK-based Sheffield Forgemasters International Ltd and Japan's Kobe Steel for a possible joint venture.  Bharat Forge could also be involved in the new venture.
http://www.bhel.com

Bharat Forge Ltd (BFL) is a multinational company which claims to be among the largest and technologically most advanced manufacturers of forged and machined components, mostly for the automotive industry.  It is said to be the world's second-largest forging company and is extending its activities into the power sector.  In 2008 it formed a joint venture with Alstom primarily for manufacturing state-of-the-art supercritical power plant equipment in India, though the enterprise may extend to nuclear applications.  It has commissioned a 400 tonne forging press at Pune, and a 14,000 tonne press is due to be commissioned in 2011-12.  BHL is part of the Kalyani Group - a US$ 2.4 billion conglomerate.
http://www.bharatforge.com/

National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) plans to diversify into nuclear power, and has formed joint ventures in heavy engineering with BHEL and Bharat Forge.  It is also creating a joint venture with NPCIL and BHEL to sell 220 MWe PHWR units abroad.

Europe 

Areva in 2006 purchased France's SFARsteel, one of the leading worldwide manufacturers of large forged parts.  It claims a strategic position in Europe for fabrication of very heavy mechanical components (up to 360 tonnes in one piece), including reactor pressure vessels and steam generators.  It has an 11,300 tonne forging press and a 7500 tonne one.  Its four production facilities are located in the Le Creusot basin in central France.  The integration of SFARsteel into Areva’s Equipment Business Unit has boosted its capability to supply new generation reactors, and in particular the EPR.
http://www.sfarsteel.com/presentation_a.php

Areva's Creusot Forge subsidiary in Burgundy specializes in large forged components and announced recently that it was investing to increase production of heavy nuclear components, including large reactor pressure vessels.  In particular the nozzle shell ring for the EPR requires capacity to forge a 500 tonne ingot and only JSW can do this now.  This investment will consolidate a second source of supply for EPR components, additional to Japan Steel Works. 

Since 1975 Areva's Chalon/St. Marcel facility, also part of the Burgundy Nuclear Partnership grouping, has produced steam generators and pressure vessels up to 500 tonnes for all the French power reactors as well as exports. 

The Burgundy Nuclear Partnership was formed by Sfarsteel and others to provide a coherent nuclear supply chain.

In 2008 Areva announced the launch of an investment program in Le Creusot to increase Areva's production capacity of forged nuclear components, enabling EPR reactor vessels to be manufactured there.  The plan first involved increased heavy ingot production at the Industeel works, part of ArcelorMittal.  Secondly it involved further investment in Creusot Forge to increase production of pressure vessels and steam generators.
http://www.industeel.info/

The UK's Sheffield Forgemasters has a 10,000 tonne press which takes 300 tonne ingots, and is looking at financing options for installing a 15,000 tonne press which will handle 500 tonne ingots.  If proceeding, this will be commissioned at the start of 2012 and enable it to manufacture all heavy components for EPR and AP1000 reactors.

It also makes casings for high pressure pumps, capable of pumping up to 430,000 litres per minute of coolant through a reactor core.  In 2008 the company won a contract to supply 16 tonne stainless steel casings for the Westinghouse AP1000 reactors at Sanmen nuclear power plant in China and for two states in USA.  It has also produced heavy forgings for UK nuclear power plants.
http://www.sheffieldforgemasters.com/

Saarschmiede at Voelklingen, Saarland has an 8670 tonne open die forging press, and produces turbine and generator shafts.  It aims to be one of the top three forges worldwide, focused on power generation components.
http://www.saarschmiede.com/english/unternehmen/index.html

Spain's ENSA, based in Madrid, provides a lot of heavy equipment for Westinghouse plants.  On the north coast of Spain its factory produces reactor pressure vessels and steam generators.
http://www.ensa.es/

In Italy, Ansaldo  Nucleare was set up in 1989 as a subsidiary of Finmeccanica Group under Ansaldo Energia.  It is based in Genova and specializes in the design, construction and servicing of nuclear power plants.  It has played a major role in building Romania's Cernavoda 2 reactor.
http://www.ansaldonucleare.it 

In the Czech Republic, Skoda's power division produces steam turbines, heat exchangers and other heavy equipment.
http://www.skoda.cz/en/skoda-holding

The Czech Vitkovice Group said in 2007 that its heavy machinery division could upgrade facilities to produce heavy nuclear forgings in two years.  It already offers pressure vessels and steam generators for nuclear plants.
http://www.vitkovice.cz/en/

North America

The USA has seen a decline in nuclear engineering facilities.  In the mid 1980s there were about 440 facilities with N-stamp accreditation from the AMSE and hence able to produce commercial nuclear-grade components.  This number halved, only partly due to industry consolidation, but has now recovered to 255 as of mid 2008.

Babcock & Wilcox Nuclear Power Generation Group (B&W NPG, formerly BWX Technologies), a subsidiary of McDermott International, specializes in the management of nuclear materials, facilities, and technologies and has been the main N-stamp accredited manufacturer of nuclear power generation components.  It claims domination of the North American steam generator market and in 2008 to be the sole US manufacturing facility for large pressure vessels.  In 2006 it entered an agreement with Areva to produce EPR components for UniStar at its Mount Vernon, Indiana plant.  Its Babcock & Wilcox Canada associate has provided nuclear services and more than 200 steam generators as well as reactor vessel closure heads to clients around the world.  B&W boilers equip more than 270,000 MW of installed capacity in over 90 countries.

http://www.babcock.com/business_units/nuclear_power_gen_group/

In 2008 the Shaw Group and Westinghouse created a joint venture Global Modular Solutions which is building a $100 million factory at Lake Charles, Louisiana, to produce structural, piping and equipment modules for new nuclear power plants utilizing Westinghouse's AP1000 technology.  It is scheduled to begin operating in 2009 and is expected to employ up to 1400 people when fully operational.  It is part of an emerging world network of such factories – preceded by one in China.

http://www.shawgrp.com/
http://www.westinghousenuclear.com/index.shtm

Also in 2008 Areva set up a $360 million joint venture with Northrop Grumman to build a factory at its shipyard at Newport News, Virginia.  It will be known as Areva Newport News, and be 67% owned by Areva but drawing on Northrop Grumman's extensive experience related to naval reactors.  The facility is designed to be a twin of Areva's Chalon-St Marcel plant in France, which has a major backlog.  It takes major components forged elsewhere, notably reactor pressure vessels, steam generators an pressurizers, and finishes them ready for installation.  Areva Newport News is expected to operate from 2011 and produce components for at least seven EPR reactors in the USA as well as more for export.  Areva wants 80% of the components for its US reactors to be made in USA.

Lehigh Heavy Forge in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania has been operating for more than a century and claims to be the only heavy forge facility in North America and to manufacture the largest and most complex open-die forgings there for a wide variety of industries, but does not yet have ASME's N-stamp accreditation.  It has the largest open die press in North America, of 10,000 tonnes capacity, which can handle ingots up to 3.3 metres diameter and 270 tonnes.  http://www.lhforge.com/lh_home.htm

Chicago Bridge & Iron Co (CB&I) has been awarded a $150 million engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract by Westinghouse to build the first two containment vessels for AP1000 reactors in southeastern USA.  CB&I says it has built 75% of the US containment vessels so far and supplied 130 in total.  It has also built 41 reactor pressure vessels and holds all relevant ASME accreditations.   
http://www.cbi.com/

However, metal forgings will continue to be done overseas, and Areva purchased Sfarsteel, a producer of steel forgings whose assets include Creusot Forge.  Areva and B&W hope eventually to have similar forging capability in USA.  In 2006 Areva ordered heavy forgings for the first UniStar EPR plant in the USA from SFARsteel.  These reactor pressure vessel and steam generator components were to be finished at Chalon-St Marcel facility in France or at B&W in Indiana.

GE-Hitachi has made reservations and placed orders with JSW to contract specific forgings for its ABWRs and ESBWRs.  It had "almost 100% of its supply team chain lined up and in place for the ESBWR" and was proceeding with ABWR.

Russia

Russia's main reactor component supplier is OMZ's Komplekt-Atom-Izhora facility which is doubling the production of large forgings so as to be able to manufacture three or four pressure vessels per year from 2011.  This represents a RUR 12 billion ($430 million) investment.  OMZ is expected to produce the forgings for all new domestic AES-2006 model VVER-1200 nuclear reactors (four per year from 2016), plus exports.  At present Izhora can produce the heavy forgings required for Russia's VVER-1000 reactors at the rate of two per year.  These forgings include reactor pressure vessels, steam generators, and heavy piping.  In 2008 the company is rebuilding its 12,000 tonne hydraulic press, claimed to be the largest in Europe, and a second stage of work will increase that capacity to 15,000 tonnes.
http://www.omz.ru/eng/

OMZ subsidiary Izhorskiye Zavody is manufacturing components for the first two Leningrad II units.  Separately, OMZ group member OMZ-Spetsstal has announced that it has received a five-year licence from Rostechnadzor, the Federal Environmental, Industrial and Nuclear Supervision Service, for the manufacture of equipment for nuclear power plants.

The Russian Power Machine Engineering Company (REMKO) was established in Russia in 2008, amalgamating some smaller firms, with half the shares owned by Atomenergomash.  It produces steam generators and heat exchangers for nuclear power plants.