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Forgemasters engineers innovative nuclear power component - 22/09/2008
Cast stainless steel pump casings made by a world-leading Yorkshire engineering company will be rolled out across the globe by an internationally-renowned engineering provider.
The 16-tonne reactor coolant pump castings, produced by Sheffield Forgemasters, will first see service on China’s new-wave of Westinghouse AP1000TM nuclear power plants at Sanmen in Zhejiang province and Haiyang in Shandong province. They will also feature on all future AP1000TM plants globally.
Forgemasters worked with Curtiss-Wright EMD – a world-renowned provider of highly engineered, technologically advanced products and services – in the details of the development of the casing. The company has now commissioned Forgemasters to produce 18 of the stage-one pump casings in recognition of its expertise in casting manufacture and materials development.
Shaun Gray, senior sales manager at Forgemasters’ engineering division, said: “What we have achieved with the AP1000 project is a first for Forgemasters – the production of cast safety critical pump casings which will be incorporated into the main reactor system.
“This project is highly specific and has required technically demanding methods compared to traditional methods of manufacture.”
Forgemasters, a world leader in supplying total engineering packages for industry, has also announced several other major contracts. The company is producing its largest plate-mill rolls for the Asian steel market in two deals worth more than £4.5m and is producing a mill housing for Russia’s latest generation steel plant in a deal worth £1.75m.
Chief executive of Forgemasters, Dr Graham Honeyman, said: “Nations like India, China and Russia have massive requirements to feed their respective domestic markets and Forgemasters is one of a select few companies across the globe capable of creating these vast steel producing components.”
