SCE&G, Santee Cooper place first AP1000 steam generator in U.S.

South Carolina Electric and Gas Company (SCE&G) and Santee Cooper recently placed the first steam generator to be used at a Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear plant.

The generator will use heat from one of the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station’s two 1,117-megawatt (MW) reactors to convert water into steam. It weighs approximately 1.5 million pounds, is 20 feet in diameter and measures over 80 feet long. The generator is one of two needed for the nuclear station, which is currently under construction.

“The steam generator is the second major nuclear steam supply system (NSSS) component to be installed at V.C. Summer Unit 2, following placement of the reactor vessel at the end of August,” Jeff Benjamin, Westinghouse senior vice president, New Plants and Major Projects, said. “This achievement opens up the reactor coolant loop piping work front and marks a significant milestone in the overall delivery of the plant.”

SCE&G and Santee Cooper are co-owners of the nuclear facility with S.C. Westinghouse as the contractor and Fluor as the construction manager.

The generator was shipped from South Korea to the Port of Charleston and was one of the heaviest energy project shipments ever for the South Carolina Ports Authority. Once the shipment reached the nuclear station, a heavy lift derrick, one of the world’s largest cranes at approximately 560 feet tall, was used to set the steam generator into place.

After the completion of the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station project, 60 percent of SCE&G’s generation will be non-emitting.