Misplaced Pages

#601398

73-627: The plant, construction of which began in 1973, has two Westinghouse pressurized water reactor units: Unit 1, completed in 1996, and Unit 2, completed in 2015. Unit 1 has a winter net dependable generating capacity of 1,167 megawatts. Unit 2 has a capacity of 1,165 megawatts. Unit 2 was the first of three new power reactors to enter service in the 21st century in the United States, followed by Vogtle Electric Generating Plant Units 3 and 4. Construction on Unit 1 began on 23 January 1973 and suffered from many delays. After construction

146-482: A 390 billion yen ($ 3.4 billion) loss, mainly in its US nuclear business which was written down by 712 billion yen ($ 6.3 billion). On 14 February 2017, Toshiba delayed filing financial results, and Toshiba chairman Shigenori Shiga, formerly chairman of Westinghouse, resigned. Toshiba considered selling the Westinghouse nuclear business. On 29 March 2017, Toshiba's Westinghouse filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy , citing

219-590: A US$ 7.9   billion deal including debt. Brookfield Renewable and its institutional partners will own a 51% interest in Westinghouse, while Cameco will own remaining 49% as part of the deal. The acquisition was completed in November 2023. Although no longer associated with CBS Corporation (now Paramount Global ), Westinghouse Electric Company LLC has for some years used the trademarks owned by Westinghouse Electric Corporation , by then Viacom/CBS Corporation/ViacomCBS' brand management subsidiary, under license, as

292-477: A decade, according to an analysis of U.S. Census data for msnbc.com. The 2010 U.S. population within 50 miles (80 km) was 1,186,648, an increase of 12.8 percent since 2000. The NRC's estimate of the risk each year of an earthquake intense enough to cause core damage to the reactor at Watts Bar was 1 in 27,778, according to an NRC study published in August 2010. The 2018 Southern Appalachian earthquake 's epicenter

365-733: A first-order reaction is given by the following equation: [ A ] 0 / 2 = [ A ] 0 exp ⁡ ( − k t 1 / 2 ) {\displaystyle [{\ce {A}}]_{0}/2=[{\ce {A}}]_{0}\exp(-kt_{1/2})} It can be solved for k t 1 / 2 = − ln ⁡ ( [ A ] 0 / 2 [ A ] 0 ) = − ln ⁡ 1 2 = ln ⁡ 2 {\displaystyle kt_{1/2}=-\ln \left({\frac {[{\ce {A}}]_{0}/2}{[{\ce {A}}]_{0}}}\right)=-\ln {\frac {1}{2}}=\ln 2} For

438-407: A first-order reaction, the half-life of a reactant is independent of its initial concentration. Therefore, if the concentration of A at some arbitrary stage of the reaction is [A] , then it will have fallen to ⁠ 1 / 2 ⁠ [A] after a further interval of ⁠ ln ⁡ 2 k . {\displaystyle {\tfrac {\ln 2}{k}}.} ⁠ Hence,

511-446: A human being is about 9 to 10 days, though this can be altered by behavior and other conditions. The biological half-life of caesium in human beings is between one and four months. The concept of a half-life has also been utilized for pesticides in plants , and certain authors maintain that pesticide risk and impact assessment models rely on and are sensitive to information describing dissipation from plants. In epidemiology ,

584-429: A lack of faith in its own technology. Finally, the record of UK governments building nuclear plants had been a commercial disaster. On October 16, 2006 the acquisition of Westinghouse Electric Company for $ 5.4 billion was completed, with Toshiba obtaining a 77% share, partners The Shaw Group a 20% share and Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries Co. Ltd. a 3% share. On 13 August 2007 Toshiba sold 10% to Kazatomprom ,

657-497: A nuclear fuel fabrication plant at Västerås , Sweden which has provided nuclear fuel for Russian VVER-1000 nuclear reactors. In 2000 Westinghouse started development of fuel for customers in Finland and Hungary, supported by cheap Export–Import Bank of the United States loans, but the business remained small-scale in competition from cheaper Russian suppliers. A 2008 contract was agreed to supply VVER-1000 fuel; however, in trial use

730-422: A plume exposure pathway zone with a radius of 10 miles (16 km), concerned primarily with exposure to, and inhalation of, airborne radioactive contamination , and an ingestion pathway zone of about 50 miles (80 km), concerned primarily with ingestion of food and liquid contaminated by radioactivity. The 2010 U.S. population within 10 miles (16 km) of Watts Bar was 18,452, an increase of 4.1 percent in

803-946: A statistical computer program . An exponential decay can be described by any of the following four equivalent formulas: N ( t ) = N 0 ( 1 2 ) t t 1 / 2 N ( t ) = N 0 2 − t t 1 / 2 N ( t ) = N 0 e − t τ N ( t ) = N 0 e − λ t {\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}N(t)&=N_{0}\left({\frac {1}{2}}\right)^{\frac {t}{t_{1/2}}}\\N(t)&=N_{0}2^{-{\frac {t}{t_{1/2}}}}\\N(t)&=N_{0}e^{-{\frac {t}{\tau }}}\\N(t)&=N_{0}e^{-\lambda t}\end{aligned}}} where The three parameters t ½ , τ , and λ are directly related in

SECTION 10

#1732847986602

876-491: A subsidiary of CBS Corporation. In July 2005, BNFL confirmed it planned to sell Westinghouse, then estimated to be worth $ 2 billion. This attracted interest from several companies, including Toshiba , General Electric and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries . When the Financial Times reported on January 23, 2006 that Toshiba had won the bid, it valued the company's offer at $ 5bn (£2.8bn). On February 6, 2006 Toshiba confirmed it

949-417: A substance can be complex, due to factors including accumulation in tissues , active metabolites , and receptor interactions. While a radioactive isotope decays almost perfectly according to first order kinetics, where the rate constant is a fixed number, the elimination of a substance from a living organism usually follows more complex chemical kinetics. For example, the biological half-life of water in

1022-556: A yearly loss for Toshiba that could exceed $ 9 billion, almost three times its previous estimate. The projects responsible for this loss were mostly the construction of four AP1000 reactors at Vogtle in Georgia and Virgil C. Summer Nuclear Generating Station in South Carolina. The Wall Street Journal reported that the four nuclear reactors being built in the southeastern U.S. would be left to an unknown fate. In July, 2017,

1095-399: Is a half-life describing any exponential-decay process. For example: The term "half-life" is almost exclusively used for decay processes that are exponential (such as radioactive decay or the other examples above), or approximately exponential (such as biological half-life discussed below). In a decay process that is not even close to exponential, the half-life will change dramatically while

1168-405: Is also used more generally to characterize any type of exponential (or, rarely, non-exponential ) decay. For example, the medical sciences refer to the biological half-life of drugs and other chemicals in the human body. The converse of half-life (in exponential growth) is doubling time . The original term, half-life period , dating to Ernest Rutherford 's discovery of the principle in 1907,

1241-482: Is estimated at $ 6.1 billion. A year after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami and subsequent Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster , the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) issued 9 orders to improve safety at domestic plants. Two changes applied to Watts Bar Unit 2 and required design modifications: "Mitigation Strategies Order" and "Spent Fuel Pool Instrumentation Order". In February 2012, TVA said

1314-457: Is proportional to the square of the concentration. By integrating this rate, it can be shown that the concentration [A] of the reactant decreases following this formula: 1 [ A ] = k t + 1 [ A ] 0 {\displaystyle {\frac {1}{[{\ce {A}}]}}=kt+{\frac {1}{[{\ce {A}}]_{0}}}} We replace [A] for ⁠ 1 / 2 ⁠ [A] 0 in order to calculate

1387-487: Is the case with other Westinghouse licensees . In 2021, ViacomCBS sold the Westinghouse licensing operation (including trademarks) directly to the now-independent Westinghouse Electric Corporation. A revived interest in the nuclear power generation field in the late 1980s led to Westinghouse's development of the AP600 reactor which received NRC approval . Interest in the Westinghouse design, but with larger power output led to

1460-421: Is the time it takes for a substance (drug, radioactive nuclide, or other) to lose one-half of its pharmacologic, physiologic, or radiological activity. In a medical context, the half-life may also describe the time that it takes for the concentration of a substance in blood plasma to reach one-half of its steady-state value (the "plasma half-life"). The relationship between the biological and plasma half-lives of

1533-526: The 2005 Indo-US nuclear deal , there was also hope that India's plan of massive investment in nuclear plants would help to revive the U.S. nuclear power industry. Reasons in favor of a sale were: The commercial risk of the company's business in Asia may have been too high for a company then owned by taxpayers; if Westinghouse won the bid for any new nuclear stations in a UK competition, questions may be raised of favoritism, but if it lost, it might have been seen as

SECTION 20

#1732847986602

1606-473: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission since 2005 said that computations submitted by Westinghouse about the building's design appeared to be wrong and "had led to more questions." He said the company had not used a range of possible temperatures for calculating potential seismic stresses on the shield building in the event of an earthquake, for example. The NRC asked Westinghouse not only to fix its calculations, but also to explain why it submitted flawed information in

1679-533: The Pittsburgh suburb of Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania . The company's main product is the AP1000 , a modern pressurized water reactor (PWR) design with many passive safety features and modular construction intended to lower construction time and cost. Twelve AP1000 reactors are currently in operation with a further nineteen in various stages of planning. The company was initially formed as CBS Corporation spun off

1752-514: The Vogtle Electric Generating Plant expansion, the first US build of the company's AP1000 design. It emerged from bankruptcy after being purchased by Brookfield Business Partners , a Canadian private equity fund. They sold it to a consortium of Brookfield Renewable Partners and Cameco , a Canadian nuclear fuel and services company. Renewable Partners is the current majority owner of Westinghouse. Westinghouse Electric Company

1825-652: The fusion fuel in nuclear weapons , has a half-life of 12.3 years, which means it decays at 5.5% per year and must be renewed. The Watts Bar license amendment permits TVA to irradiate up to approximately 2,000 tritium-producing rods in the Watts Bar reactor. TVA began irradiating tritium-producing rods at Unit 1 in the fall of 2003. TVA removed these rods from the reactor in the spring of 2005. DOE successfully shipped them to its tritium extraction facility at Savannah River Site in South Carolina . DOE reimburses TVA for

1898-507: The CEO resigning, Toshiba stated that the Westinghouse nuclear business was more profitable than at acquisition in 2006. In December 2016, Toshiba said it expected to write down its investment in Westinghouse by US$ 2.5 billion, adding that it was possible that their investment in Westinghouse could ultimately have a negative worth, due to cost overruns at U.S. nuclear reactors it was building. In February 2017, Toshiba revealed unaudited details of

1971-874: The Chinese supply chain. Westinghouse Electric Company fully owns several subsidiaries in Europe, such as the European Service Center, also called Westinghouse Electric Belgium located in Nivelles , Belgium, where equipment is prepared for projects throughout Europe. After Westinghouse's 1990 takeover of ABB Reaktor in Germany, it transferred radiological storage activities located in Ladenburg , Germany, to consolidate in Nivelles, which had to be extended. Soon afterwards another expansion

2044-726: The Energy Center in Monroeville, Pennsylvania , to Cranberry Woods in Cranberry Township, Butler County, Pennsylvania , as reported in a 2007 memo to its employees that stated the main reason was the rapid expansion of the global nuclear industry. Construction began in July 2007 and the move lasted from June 2009 to December 2010. The Repair, Replacement and Automation Services (RRAS) business segment moved to Cranberry Township earlier than other business segments to help alleviate space issues at

2117-651: The US, and several other customers had chosen the AP1000, if they were to build new nuclear plants, for a combined total of at least 14 new plants, announced by the NuStart Consortium, Duke Power, Progress Energy, Southern Nuclear and SCE&G. In May 2011 after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster , US government regulators found problems with the design of the shield building of the new reactors. Gregory Jaczko , chairman of

2190-508: The Westinghouse Power Generation Business unit was sold to Siemens of Germany. In 1999, CBS Corporation sold its nuclear business ( Westinghouse Electric Company ) to British Nuclear Fuels Limited (BNFL) and a year later CBS Corporation was merged into Viacom (1971–2005) , putting an end to the original Westinghouse. Legally, Westinghouse Electric Corporation still exists, mainly for the purpose of licensing, as

2263-417: The analogous formula is: 1 T 1 / 2 = 1 t 1 + 1 t 2 + 1 t 3 + ⋯ {\displaystyle {\frac {1}{T_{1/2}}}={\frac {1}{t_{1}}}+{\frac {1}{t_{2}}}+{\frac {1}{t_{3}}}+\cdots } For a proof of these formulas, see Exponential decay § Decay by two or more processes . There

Watts Bar Nuclear Plant - Misplaced Pages Continue

2336-409: The atoms remaining, only approximately , because of the random variation in the process. Nevertheless, when there are many identical atoms decaying (right boxes), the law of large numbers suggests that it is a very good approximation to say that half of the atoms remain after one half-life. Various simple exercises can demonstrate probabilistic decay, for example involving flipping coins or running

2409-618: The change of the project to the AP1000 in 1999 and shortly after became the first Generation III+ reactor to receive final design approval from the NRC in 2004. As of 2014, four of these units are under construction in China, though the first was due to come on-line in November 2013. and has been delayed until December 2014. The delay due to the constantly changing, and consequently untested, design prompted Li Yulun, former vice-president of China National Nuclear Corporation, in 2013 to raise concerns over

2482-533: The co-owners of the V.C. Summer plant announced that the project was terminated. On September 24, 2017, the Post & Courier reported that Westinghouse had hired unlicensed workers to create mechanical and electrical blueprints for the V.C. Summer expansion without having a professional engineer sign off on them which was in violation of state law. The blueprints were often faulty and led to significant delays. The U.S. government had given $ 8.3 billion of loan guarantees on

2555-421: The completion of the sale of Westinghouse's holding company to Brookfield Business Partners (a subsidiary of Canadian investment management company Brookfield Asset Management Inc.) and some partners for $ 4.6bn. In October 2022, Brookfield Renewable Partners (another subsidiary of Brookfield Asset Management) and Cameco announced the acquisition of Westinghouse Electric from Brookfield Business Partners in

2628-493: The cost of providing the irradiation services and also pays TVA a fee for each tritium-producing rod that is irradiated. During the times the reactor does this, it must be fuelled with "unobligated" uranium , (uranium that is not legally or contractually restricted to peaceful use only, as most commercial reactor uranium is). Technology and equipment as well as the fuel used to produce it must be of U.S. origin. The NRC defines two emergency planning zones around nuclear power plants:

2701-707: The country to fulfill European Commission directives regarding international competition, Westinghouse started to expand its business in France with a Westinghouse team located in Metz in charge of repair, replacement and automation services. By 2005, Westinghouse had 160 employees in France and two-thirds of Westinghouse's business in France was fuel supply. Westinghouse Electrique France is located in Orsay and Manosque near Marseille (engineering development). As of 2014, about 400 employees are part of Westinghouse in France. Westinghouse owns

2774-418: The decay is happening. In this situation it is generally uncommon to talk about half-life in the first place, but sometimes people will describe the decay in terms of its "first half-life", "second half-life", etc., where the first half-life is defined as the time required for decay from the initial value to 50%, the second half-life is from 50% to 25%, and so on. A biological half-life or elimination half-life

2847-428: The design modifications to Watts Bar 2 were partially responsible for the project running over budget and behind schedule. The second unit costs a total of $ 4.7 billion bringing the total costs of the two unit plant to more than $ 12 billion. It will likely be the last Generation II reactor to be completed in the US. TVA declared construction substantially complete in August 2015 and requested that NRC staff proceed with

2920-464: The early 1980s. Combustion Engineering (now Westinghouse) entered into a ten-year technology transfer program with the Korean nuclear industry aiming at self-reliance, which was extended in 1997. In December, 2006, China's State Nuclear Power Technology Company (SNPTC) selected Westinghouse to provide four new AP1000 nuclear power plants. The first was due to come on line in 2013, but has been delayed until

2993-616: The end of 2014. On 7 June 2016, Nuclear Power corporation of India have agreed to begin engineering and site design work for six nuclear power reactors in India and to conclude contractual agreements by June 2017. Westinghouse has been involved in South Africa through support of the Koeberg Nuclear Power Station since the 1990s, both reactors are Westinghouse-licensed. In 2007, Westinghouse acquired IST Nuclear (Pty) Ltd, and won

Watts Bar Nuclear Plant - Misplaced Pages Continue

3066-479: The final bidding process for new nuclear plants in South Africa, for which it signed an MOU in 2013. IST Nuclear provides services and systems for the pebble-bed reactor . Half-life Half-life (symbol t ½ ) is the time required for a quantity (of substance) to reduce to half of its initial value. The term is commonly used in nuclear physics to describe how quickly unstable atoms undergo radioactive decay or how long stable atoms survive. The term

3139-588: The final licensing review; on October 22, the NRC approved a 40-year operating license for Unit 2, marking the formal end of construction and allowing for the installation of nuclear fuel and subsequent testing. On December 15, 2015, TVA announced that the reactor was fully loaded with fuel and ready for criticality and power ascension tests. In March 2016, the NRC described the project as a "chilled work environment," where employees are reluctant to raise safety concerns for fear of retribution. On May 23, 2016, initial criticality

3212-448: The financing of the four nuclear reactors being built in the U.S. Besides the issues with the AP1000 design, the fuel manufacturing division has been profitable, but not enough to cover corporate overheads and support the other divisions. Research and development investment in fuel manufacturing has been low, which has impacted the quality and comparative performance of its fuel compared to competitors. On 6 April 2018, Toshiba announced

3285-467: The first place. Westinghouse countered that the "confirmatory items" that the commission was asking for were not "safety significant." In November 2011, the AP1000 Oversight Group published a report highlighting six areas of major concern and un-reviewed safety questions requiring immediate technical review by the NRC. The report concluded that certification of the AP1000 should be delayed until

3358-462: The following way: t 1 / 2 = ln ⁡ ( 2 ) λ = τ ln ⁡ ( 2 ) {\displaystyle t_{1/2}={\frac {\ln(2)}{\lambda }}=\tau \ln(2)} where ln(2) is the natural logarithm of 2 (approximately 0.693). In chemical kinetics , the value of the half-life depends on the reaction order : The rate of this kind of reaction does not depend on

3431-509: The fuel became deformed. In 2015, the European Union awarded $ 2 million in funding to a Westinghouse-led consortium to support the development of a more competitive fuel for the Russian built reactors. In 2018, the contract to supply VVER fuel was extended to 2025. In 2018, Westinghouse, under a further EU-funded project, started developing VVER-440 fuel. In October 2022, Westinghouse

3504-411: The half-life is defined in terms of probability : "Half-life is the time required for exactly half of the entities to decay on average ". In other words, the probability of a radioactive atom decaying within its half-life is 50%. For example, the accompanying image is a simulation of many identical atoms undergoing radioactive decay. Note that after one half-life there are not exactly one-half of

3577-403: The half-life of a first order reaction is given as the following: t 1 / 2 = ln ⁡ 2 k {\displaystyle t_{1/2}={\frac {\ln 2}{k}}} The half-life of a first order reaction is independent of its initial concentration and depends solely on the reaction rate constant, k . In second order reactions, the rate of reaction

3650-602: The half-life of second order reactions depends on the initial concentration and rate constant . Some quantities decay by two exponential-decay processes simultaneously. In this case, the actual half-life T ½ can be related to the half-lives t 1 and t 2 that the quantity would have if each of the decay processes acted in isolation: 1 T 1 / 2 = 1 t 1 + 1 t 2 {\displaystyle {\frac {1}{T_{1/2}}}={\frac {1}{t_{1}}}+{\frac {1}{t_{2}}}} For three or more processes,

3723-533: The half-life of the reactant A 1 [ A ] 0 / 2 = k t 1 / 2 + 1 [ A ] 0 {\displaystyle {\frac {1}{[{\ce {A}}]_{0}/2}}=kt_{1/2}+{\frac {1}{[{\ce {A}}]_{0}}}} and isolate the time of the half-life ( t ½ ): t 1 / 2 = 1 [ A ] 0 k {\displaystyle t_{1/2}={\frac {1}{[{\ce {A}}]_{0}k}}} This shows that

SECTION 50

#1732847986602

3796-564: The headquarters in Monroeville and was completed in spring of 2008. As part of this move, Westinghouse piloted the first commuter shuttle running an all-day loop between Monroeville and Cranberry Township. The shuttle ceased operation after Westinghouse formally closed, and sold their Monroeville facility in 2012. In 2015, concerns were expressed that the value of assets and goodwill in Westinghouse were overstated. Following an accounting scandal in which profits were overstated at Toshiba, leading to

3869-511: The national uranium company for the Republic of Kazakhstan , for US$ 540 million, leaving Toshiba with 67%. Kazatomprom's ownership was entirely passive, with no voting or veto rights or presence on the board of directors. In September, 2011, Toshiba was reported to be in talks to acquire the Shaw stake and both companies confirmed the story soon thereafter. Shaw CEO James Bernhard said , that Toshiba

3942-462: The old units will be kept until the plant is decommissioned. The NRC operating license for Watts Bar was modified in September ;2002 to allow irradiation of tritium -producing burnable absorber rods at Watts Bar to produce tritium for the U.S. Department of Energy 's (DOE's) National Nuclear Security Administration in order to maintain the viability of America's nuclear weapons . Tritium,

4015-478: The original and current "unanswered safety questions" raised by the AP1000 Oversight Group are resolved. In December 2011, the UK's Office for Nuclear Regulation published a design assessment report on the AP1000 reactor which highlighted 51 'Generic Design Assessment' issues remaining that must be addressed before the assessment would be completed. In October 2013, US energy secretary Ernest Moniz announced that China

4088-459: The reactant. Thus the concentration will decrease exponentially. [ A ] = [ A ] 0 exp ⁡ ( − k t ) {\displaystyle [{\ce {A}}]=[{\ce {A}}]_{0}\exp(-kt)} as time progresses until it reaches zero, and the half-life will be constant, independent of concentration. The time t ½ for [A] to decrease from [A] 0 to ⁠ 1 / 2 ⁠ [A] 0 in

4161-465: The reduction of a quantity as a function of the number of half-lives elapsed. A half-life often describes the decay of discrete entities, such as radioactive atoms. In that case, it does not work to use the definition that states "half-life is the time required for exactly half of the entities to decay". For example, if there is just one radioactive atom, and its half-life is one second, there will not be "half of an atom" left after one second. Instead,

4234-451: The remaining pieces of Westinghouse's industrial concerns, as part of Westinghouse's re-creation as a media company. Portions of their nuclear business were initially purchased by Siemens in 1998 before the remaining parts were purchased by British Nuclear Fuels Limited (BNFL) in 1999 and formed up as Westinghouse Electric. In 2005, BNFL sold the company to Toshiba . The company went bankrupt in 2017 primarily due to ongoing cost overruns at

4307-483: The safety standards of the plant. Citing a lack of operating history, he questioned the manufacturer's assertion that the AP1000 reactor's "primary system canned motor pumps" were "maintenance-free" over 60 years, the assumed life of the reactor, and noted that Westinghouse had yet to receive approval from British authorities on an improved version of AP1000. As of 2019 all four AP1000 reactors in China are operating. As of January 2009, six AP1000 plants had been ordered in

4380-575: The substrate concentration , [A] . Thus the concentration decreases linearly. [ A ] = [ A ] 0 − k t {\displaystyle [{\ce {A}}]=[{\ce {A}}]_{0}-kt} In order to find the half-life, we have to replace the concentration value for the initial concentration divided by 2: [ A ] 0 / 2 = [ A ] 0 − k t 1 / 2 {\displaystyle [{\ce {A}}]_{0}/2=[{\ce {A}}]_{0}-kt_{1/2}} and isolate

4453-412: The time: t 1 / 2 = [ A ] 0 2 k {\displaystyle t_{1/2}={\frac {[{\ce {A}}]_{0}}{2k}}} This t ½ formula indicates that the half-life for a zero order reaction depends on the initial concentration and the rate constant. In first order reactions, the rate of reaction will be proportional to the concentration of

SECTION 60

#1732847986602

4526-422: The unit was restarted after four months of repairs to the condenser. In 2022, the four original steam generator units installed in the 1970s on unit 2 were replaced with units made from Inconel 690 which is more resistant to stress corrosion cracking and expected to last the life of the plant. Replacing the units involved cutting two large holes in the containment building . Because of radioactive contamination

4599-468: Was achieved. Commercial operation began in October 2016. On October 19, 2016 the Watts Bar 2 was the first United States reactor to enter commercial operation since 1996. Due to failures in its condenser, TVA took it offline on March 23, 2017. The condenser, which was installed during the original construction phase of the plant in the 1970s, suffered a structural failure in one of its sections. On August 1, 2017,

4672-565: Was buying Westinghouse Electric Company for $ 5.4bn and announced it would sell a minority stake to investors. The sale surprised many industry experts who questioned the wisdom of BNFL selling one of the world's largest producers of nuclear reactors shortly before the market for nuclear power was expected to grow substantially; China , the United States and the United Kingdom were all expected to invest heavily in nuclear power. After

4745-443: Was formed in 1999, after the original company with that name, George Westinghouse 's Westinghouse Electric , founded in 1886, ceased to exist due to a series of divestitures and mergers through the mid-to-late 1990s. These included Westinghouse Electric's purchase of CBS in 1995, expansion into communications and broadcasting, and the selling off of most non-broadcast operations by 1998, renaming itself CBS Corporation . In 1998,

4818-434: Was halted on both units in 1985, construction resumed on Unit 1 in 1992. Criticality was first achieved on 1 January 1996, and commercial operation began on May 5, 1996. In the early 2000s, the four original steam generator units were replaced with units made from Inconel 690 which is more resistant to stress corrosion cracking . Unit 2 construction started in 1972. Unit 2 was 60% complete when construction on both units

4891-682: Was located two miles east of the facility. The TVA reported that their facilities are designed to withstand seismic events and were not impacted by the earthquake, but personnel would conduct further inspections as a precaution. Westinghouse Electric Company Westinghouse Electric Company LLC is an American nuclear power company formed in 1999 from the nuclear power division of the original Westinghouse Electric Corporation . It offers nuclear products and services to utilities internationally, including nuclear fuel , service and maintenance, instrumentation, control and design of nuclear power plants . Westinghouse's world headquarters are located in

4964-560: Was necessary as employees in the Brussels office were transferred to Nivelles. It was estimated that 200 people were working in Nivelles at the end of 2011. In 2001, Westinghouse took over Logitest in Les Ulis , France, one of 3 companies qualified to inspect nuclear steam generator plants for Électricité de France . After the French nuclear market partially opened in 2004 to suppliers from outside

5037-627: Was paying US$ 1.6 Bn for the Shaw-owned 20% stake, and that it was the 50% rise in the yen on its yen-denominated debt over five years, which had led it to exercise its sale option. Toshiba said in late 2012 it was open to, and considering, having other partners invest in the business. The purchase closed in January 2013, and brought Toshiba's share in the company to 87% as a result of Shaw exercising its option. After several years of doing business there, Westinghouse decided to move its world headquarters from

5110-540: Was selected to build Poland's first nuclear power plant based on three AP1000 reactors, with possibly a further three at a later date. Westinghouse also has business locations in Italy, Germany, Spain, the UK, Russia, and Bulgaria. In South Korea, Westinghouse has been involved in the construction of new nuclear plants since 1972, with the first plant Kori Nuclear Power Plant starting up in 1977 and in commercial operation in 1978, followed by eight reactors under construction in

5183-399: Was shortened to half-life in the early 1950s. Rutherford applied the principle of a radioactive element's half-life in studies of age determination of rocks by measuring the decay period of radium to lead-206 . Half-life is constant over the lifetime of an exponentially decaying quantity, and it is a characteristic unit for the exponential decay equation. The accompanying table shows

5256-471: Was stopped in 1985 due in part to a projected decrease in power demand. In 2007, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Board approved completion of Unit 2 on August 1, and construction resumed on October 15. The project was expected to cost $ 2.5 billion and employ around 2,300 contractor workers. Once finished, it was expected to employ 250 people in permanent jobs. The final cost of the plant

5329-411: Was to supply components to the US nuclear power plants under construction as part of a bilateral co-operation agreement between the two countries. Since China's State Nuclear Power Technology Co (SNPTC) acquired Westinghouses's AP1000 technology in 2006, it has developed a manufacturing supply chain capable of supplying international power projects. Industry analysts have pointed out that there are gaps in

#601398