On November 14, 2018, Westinghouse Delegation led by Vice President William Poirier visited Shanghai Nuclear Engineering Research & Design Institute (SNERDI). Chief Designer of CAP1400 and President of SNERDI, Dr. Zheng Mingguang attended the meeting and communicate with the delegation on the latest progress of AP1000s in China, the advantages of CAP1400 and the development of localized supply chain.

Dr. Zheng said that passive plan made a significant contribution to the evolution of nuclear power technology. The success construction of AP1000 verified the advancement and safety of passive philosophy. He pointed out that SNERDI and WEC should join together to promote the implementation of advanced technology and the sustainable development of nuclear industry.

Pioneer of passive philosophy, Howard Bruschi, and New Plans and AP1000 Chief Engineer, Ed Cummins shared the history of advanced light water reactor designs, including the concept of passive technology, the approaches to safety, design objectives and features of AP600/AP1000. They introduced the comprehensive development of the utility oversight regulatory, the increase of operating plant capacity factor, and the appearance of utility-oriented new nuclear power plant designs due to the TMI accident.

“NRC cited AP600 as the most thorough new plant review”, Howard Bruschi recalled the 9-year design certification review of AP600 conducted by NRC, “Passive technology is the landmark. NRC knows that they are looking at something that is revolutionary.” Ed Cummins said, AP600 design began with a “clean sheet of paper” rather than modifying an existing design, and AP1000 design was derived from AP600 with better constructability, operability, maintainability, and reliability. WEC is convinced that only passive ALWR’s with modular construction are able to meet generation cost targets, and extensive modularization could enable dramatic reduction in the construction schedule.

William Poirier said that both SNERDI and WEC made great efforts on the AP1000 projects in China, “We leant a lot from each other.” He proposed the over-25-year cooperation between SNERDI and WEC could be continued for the promotion of environmental-friendly and economic-competitive passive technology.