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Positive Reaction

After a two-decade lull, countries are taking a new look at nuclear power.

Unit 1 of the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant in Alabama was dormant for 22 years. Now it is once again splitting uranium atoms to convert water to steam and crank out nearly 1,200 megawatts of electricity—enough to power 650,000 homes. To watchful eyes, Browns Ferry is a symbol of changing attitudes toward nuclear power.

“There is a sense of resurgence,” says Jim Reinsch, president of Bechtel Nuclear in Frederick, Maryland, which provided detailed engineering, system support, and startup services for the project that brought Unit 1 back to life in May 2007. “Browns Ferry shows that new nuclear generation can be brought online on time and on budget.”

The five-year, $1.8 billion restart project for Tennessee Valley Authority was undertaken during a swing in public sentiment back in favor of building nuclear power plants. After the 1986 accident at the Russian-designed Chernobyl plant in Ukraine, some countries pulled back from nuclear and turned toward other power options. Yet much of the industrialized world’s electricity is nuclear generated. The United States now draws 20 percent of its electricity from nuclear power; France is at nearly 80 percent.

Now, two decades of incredibly safe, reliable, affordable performance at more than 400 plants around the world; advanced and improved construction methodologies; and a burgeoning interest in clean energy have led to a dramatic shift in the perception of nuclear power.

Today, 83 percent of people in the United States think nuclear is important to our future and 86 percent within 10 miles of a nuclear plant favor new plants. Concern over climate change has made nuclear generation more attractive, since it emits zero greenhouse gases. The cost of producing nuclear power-based electricity is lower and more predictable than other sources. Since U.S. demand for electricity is expected to double by 2030, nuclear may indeed play a greater role.

Bechtel is ready to broaden its 58-year role as a leader in nuclear engineering and construction. Stephen Bechtel Sr. predicted after World War II that nuclear technology would revolutionize the power generation industry. In 1949, Bechtel engineers helped design the Van de Graaff accelerator at Los Alamos, New Mexico. After the Atomic Energy Commission Act in 1954, Bechtel devised a “Triple Ten” plan, pledging 10 percent of pretax profits and 10 percent of management and engineering resources to nuclear power for 10 years.

Since then, the company has designed and built more nuclear plants and worked on more restarts than any other engineering and construction company in the world. Bechtel completed the first privately financed commercial U.S. nuclear station in Dresden, Illinois, in 1959, as well as the largest U.S. plant—the 4,000-megawatt Palo Verde generating station in Arizona. Bechtel has provided engineering, construction, or management for 88 of 103 U.S. nuclear power units.

The company also has built nuclear plants outside the United States, including the largest commercial project to date in China—the 1,450 megawatt Qinshan plant. Bechtel’s engineers have shaped nuclear technology from the earliest experimental breeder reactor through advances that include passive light-water reactors, liquid-metal reactors, pressure-suppression containment plants, and new methods of waste vitrification.

For instance, at the former Hanford Site in southeast Washington state, Bechtel is constructing a waste treatment plant (WTP) the size of two nuclear power plants that will vitrify some 53 million gallons (200 million liters) of nuclear waste. It’s the first major nuclear construction in the United States in nearly 30 years.

Projects such as Browns Ferry and WTP give Bechtel a leg up in meeting future demand for new nuclear facilities. Also important is the expertise Bechtel has gained working on a steady stream of renovations to existing nuclear plants. In the last five years, Bechtel has worked on more than 30 U.S. commercial nuclear projects, including the replacement of aging steam generators and reactor pressure vessel heads. Bechtel pioneered new techniques such as optical templating and “through-the-wall” generator replacement—a process of cutting a hole high in the side of a containment building so that components can be removed and replaced, and then repairing the hole to its original standards (and completing the project in just a couple of months).

Energy analysts believe it is just a matter of time before a new U.S. plant begins humming. Bechtel expects to see three to five certified designs for nuclear plants within five years. The U.S. Department of Energy believes 50 new reactors could be operational by 2030.

Nuclear is clearly the least expensive method of power generation from an operating standpoint, but it has a reputation of being more expensive to build. “The challenge is overnight capital costs,” says Reinsch. “The financial community needs assurance that when they hear that a plant’s going to cost X dollars and will take X years to build, it’ll happen.”

New design and construction technologies are helping to dispel doubts. Advances such as 3D modeling, modularization, and robotic welding make plants more efficient to build.

Standardization will also make construction less expensive. Today’s nuclear plants are markedly different from one another. In the future, plants could follow a basic design with slight modifications at each site.

Help from Washington, D.C., is also alleviating cost concerns. The public’s re-embrace of nuclear power is mirrored at the political level, and with the 2005 Energy Policy Act, the United States has its first comprehensive energy legislation in 13 years. The nuclear provisions of the act include loan guarantees, risk insurance, and tax credits structured to bridge the “economic feasibility gap.”

As a result, plans are beginning to stack up. Bechtel is performing seven construction operating license and early-site permit studies in the United States, while its nearest competitor is handling two. Abroad, Bechtel Power will focus on the expanding nuclear markets in South Korea, China, the UK, and, potentially, India and Canada.

Nuclear work constitutes one-third of Bechtel Power’s business, but it could become the majority over the long term. The company’s experience, knowledge of U.S. labor, global supply chain, and quality assurance programs are at the ready—and will be hard for other companies to match.

Bechtel has stayed very active in the nuclear power business for all these years, and we’re unparalleled in our resources, depth, and breadth of experience,” says Reinsch.