webster electric hydraulic pump made in china

New capacity is being builtby JSW and JCFC in Japan, Shanghai Electric Group (SEC) and subsidiaries in China, and in South Korea (Doosan), Czech Rep (Pilsen) and Russia (OMZ Izhora and ZiO-Podolsk).

New capacity is plannedin UK (Sheffield Forgemasters) and India (Larsen & Toubro, Bharat Heavy Electricals, Bharat Forge Ltd). In China the Harbin Boiler Co. and SEC subsidiary SENPE are increasing capacity.

The largest and best-known supplier of heavy forgings is Japan Steel Works (JSW), founded in 1907 by two British companies and a Japanese partner – Hokkaido Steel & Iron Co. It produces large forgings for reactor pressure vessels, steam generators and turbine shafts, and claims 80% of the world market for large forged components for nuclear plants. It has the distinction of supplying the pressure vessels for the first two 1650 MWe Areva EPR plants in Finland and France. It has a 2008 contract with Dongfang Electric Corporation (DEC) to supply forged components including for reactor pressure vessels to Dongfang (Guangzhou) Heavy Machinery Company Limited (DFHM) in China. JSW is contracted to supply Areva with large forged parts until at least 2016. Areva has said that this, along with its own capacity and other partnerships, will secure its supplies of large components for the five to six nuclear plants per year it expects to build in the medium term. Areva has also acquired 1.3% equity in JSW, alongside Hitachi and MHI with 1.36% each. Its main plant is Muroran on Hokkaido in the north, and smaller plants are at Yokohama near Tokyo and Hiroshima in the south.

At JSW"s Muroran plant it has 3000 to 14,000 tonne hydraulic forging presses, the latter able to take 600-tonne steel ingots, and a 12,000 tonne pipe-forming press. Its capacity to 2007 had been only four reactor pressure vessels and associated major components per year, but this had been tripled to twelve by early 2011. A JPY 50 billion ($523 million) expansion was completed in March 2010, and a second phase of JPY 30 billion ($314 million) will be complete in 2011. A second 14,000 tonne (oil) hydraulic forging press was commissioned early in 2010, and it can now handle 670-tonne ingots. Muroran also manufactures steam generator components, generator & turbine rotor shafts, clad steel plates and turbine casings for nuclear power plants. However, following the March 2011 Fukushima accident, JSW expected orders to fill only 70% of the expanded capacity, though it later said that it expected JPY 50 billion in new orders over the first year since the accident. These are mainly from France and China, for major nuclear components. JSW"s Muroran plant is forging the Arabelle generator rotor for the 1200 MWe VVER Hanhikivi plant in Finland, under contract to Rosatom subsidiary RAOS Project Oy. It will the be sent to the GE Steam Power facility* in Belfort, France, to be machined. The 240-tonne rotor will be 8 metres long and 2 metres wide.

Reactor pressure vessels (RPV), steam generators (SG), pressurizers (PRZ), reactor vessel internals (RVI), control rod drive mechanisms (CRD) and reactor collant pumps (RCP).

China"s heavy manufacturing plants can make about ten sets of pressure vessels and steam generators per year, more than doubling from 2007, but this is projected to rise to 20 sets per year with a view to export. The National Development & Reform Commission (NDRC) in 2006 authorized major investment by three major fabricators, all state-owned. However, the UK"s Sheffield Forgemasters has been supplying reactor coolant pumps for AP1000 reactors globally.

In mid-2013 the main companies making nuclear island equipment were CFHI, with China National Erzhong Group, and Shanghai Electric Heavy Machinery, while Shanghai Electric, Dongfang Electric and Harbin Electric focused on equipment manufacturing for conventional island. In 2013 the National Nuclear Security Administration approved five private enterprises to obtain nuclear equipment design and manufacturing certificates including Sichuan Huadu, KINWA, Qingdao Lanshi, Wuxi Huaertai and Jiangsu Haishi Pumps.

Early in 2010 the State Nuclear Power Technology Corporation (SNPTC), which is in charge of deployment of new reactor technology, announced that ten engineering enterprises had been qualified to provide equipment for Generation-III nuclear plants. The newly-qualified qualified suppliers are: China First Heavy Industries (CFHI); Harbin Power Equipment (Qinhuangdao) Co; Harbin AC/DC Motor Co; Shanghai Electric Nuclear Power Equipment Co (SENPE); Shanghai First Machine Tool Works; Dongfang (Guangzhou) Heavy Machinery Co Ltd; Deyang Heavy Equipment Co; Dalian Heavy Industry and Crane Co; Taiyuan Heavy Industry Co Ltd; and Shenyang Turbo Machinery Co. Presumably Shandong Nuclear Power Equipment Manufacturing Co. Ltd set up by SNPTC and in which in which it holds a 64% share is additional to these.

It commissioned a 15,000 tonne (150 MN) open-die hydraulic press at end of 2006 – then claimed to be the world"s largest, and it has also been using a 12,500 tonne (125 MN) press. In 2007 CFHI gained approval from the NDRC to invest CNY 2.3 billion (US$ 337 million) in expanding its production capacity further, doubling its annual production of molten steel and increasing pressed forging capacity to 240,000 tonnes per year. It aimed to have the "world’s largest casting and forging steel base" by 2010, and invested CNY 5 billion to achieve this.In 2009 it poured a 580 tonne ingot for a nuclear plant turbine rotor, and forged this, then in 2013 a 619 tonne ingot was forged into a turbine rotor.It can now handle a 715 tonne ingot.

The Shanghai Electric Group Company Ltd (SEC), founded in 1925 claims to be the leader in the equipment manufacturing sector. It includes heavy engineering and it manufactures pressure vessels, steam generators and pressurizers for PWRs. At its Minhang base it had a 12,500 tonne forging press by 2005, and added a 16,500 tonne (165 MN) press in 2008. It imported a Japanese heavy forging press in 2008. The largest casting and forging ingot is 600t, the largest casting is 450t and the largest forging is 350t. SEC invested CNY 6 billion in its Minhang and Lingang plants by mid-2009, and over 2009 to 2015 it invested CNY 7.2 billion ($1.17 billion) in its Minhang base.

In 2007 SEC set up Shanghai Electric Heavy Industry Group (SECHIG) as a foundation for development. Based on heavy castings and forgings as its technical support, SECHIG integrates the manufacturing of nuclear island main equipment such as reactor pressure vessels (RPV), steam generators (SG), pressurizers (PRZ), reactor vessel internals (RVI), control rod drive mechanisms (CRDM) and reactor coolant pumps (RCP) within a single group. From 2012 annual capacity is 10 sets of RVI and CDRM for CPR-1000, six sets of RPV & SG for CPR-1000, six sets of half-speed turbine-generators for Generation III PWRs, 12 RCP and 50 sets of Class 2&3 pumps. It has delivered RPV for AP1000, and SG for AP1000, EPR and CAP1400. SEC has a joint venture with Siemens for turbine generator equipment.

A major SEC subsidiary is Shanghai Electric Nuclear Power Equipment Co Ltd (SENPE) with a new nuclear fabrication plant at Lingang. This is increasing ingot capacity to 600 tonnes, allowing fabrication of both AP1000 and EPR components. A CNY 1 billion second phase of this Lingang plant came on stream in 2012, almost doubling capacity. SENPE said that Lingang would become the world"s largest and most concentrated base for nuclear equipment from 2012. In 2009 SENPE could make 2.5 sets of PWR equipment per year including pressure vessels and steam generators. SEC is using the Hainan project to localize reactor coolant pump (RCP) manufacture and plans to develop a Generation III RCP with KSB, then a prototype for the CAP1400 by 2015.

In 2011 France"s Alstom signed an agreement with SEC to set up Alstom-Shanghai Electric Boilers as a 50-50 joint venture to make boilers for all kinds of power plants. Alstom already had a 51% share in Wuhan Boiler, which invested CNY 900 million in a new plant in 2009, making it Alstom"s largest boiler factory. Alstom also cooperates with Dongfang Electric (DEC).

China National Erzhong GroupCo Ltd (CNEG, otherwise China Second Heavy Industries Corp) is located inland at Deyang, in Sichuan province. It started production in 1971 and claims to be the largest heavy machine-building enterprise in China, with assets of CNY 18.8 billion and a strong R&D capability in Chengdu. China Erzhong can produce 650-tonne ingots and has a 125 MN (12,700 tonne) hydraulic press and added a 160 MN (16,300 tonne) press in 2009. It can machine 500t castings and 250t forgings. In 2009 it forged China"s biggest low-speed 1100 MW generator rotor for Dongfang Electric, which was successfully tested under Alstom supervision. In 2014 it forged a 600t rotor shaft for Fuqing 6. It also has the world"s largest hydraulic press, an 80,000-tonne open die forging press costing CNY 1.5 billion, commissioned in 2010, for manufacturing large components. In April 2013 CNEG was cleared to start manufacturing forgings for CAP1400 pressurisers designed by Dongfang (DFHM).

China Dongfang Electric Corporation(DEC) is based inland at Chengdu, Sichuan province, and claims to be the largest power generation equipment manufacturer in the world. The group has several subsidiaries and was founded in 1984. DEC is listed in Hong Kong and Shanghai, and in April 2009 announced a CNY 5 billion capital raising. Dongfang has the largest market share for turbine generators, and was the main contractor for Qinshan II. It produces everything from reactor pressure vessels and steam generators through to turbine generators. DEC works closely with Erzhong, and also has a link with Babcock-Hitachi.

Dongfang Electric Machinery Co Ltd (DFEM) is based at Deyang in Sichuan and is a major researcher and manufacturer of power generating equipment with major machining capability. It makes 150 MWe turbine generators for CPR-1000 reactors (e.g. Ling Ao), 1250 MWe ones for AP1000 and 1750 ones for EPR. Steam turbine generators are a major export. It was established in 2008, but originates from the Dongfang Electrical Machinery Works set up in 1958. Annual output is up to 38 GWe of equipment.

A major DEC subsidiary is Dongfang (Guangzhou) Heavy Machinery Co (DFHM) at Nansha near the coast in Guangdong, which has the capacity to produce three sets of CPR-1000 forged equipment per year since 2010 as well as four sets of turbine generators. DFHM was formerly known as Guangzhou Guangzhong (Nansha) Machinery Co Ltd, and it has a close relationship with CGN and worked with Areva to manufacture all heavy nuclear components for Ling Ao Phase II and other CGN projects. It supplied the first Chinese-made 1000 MWe reactor pressure vessel (for Ling Ao) in June 2009. (It was branded Areva and DEC.) It has ASME N-stamp accreditation for boilers and pressure vessels. DFHM was established in 2004 by Dongfang Electric (now 57%) and China Erzhong, with several local investors. It has had a close relationship with Japan Steel Works since 2006, and under a 2008 contract with JSW imports large forged components for pressure vessels and steam generators from JSW.

A 2006 DEC joint venture, Areva Dongfang Nuclear Pump Co, produces reactor coolant pumps, for Ling Ao Phase II and Ningde, and at end of 2013 had a capacity of 12 per year.

Harbin Electric CompanyLtd (HEC – formerly Harbin Power Equipment Co Ltd, HPEC) is one of the four major heavy manufacturers in China. It provided ancillary equipment for the 1200 MWe steam turbines and generators for the four Sanmen and Haiyang AP1000 units under licence from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), which supplied the actual turbine generators. HEC is also supplying primary coolant pumps for CNNC’s Fuqing 5&6.

Early in 2009, L&T signed four agreements with foreign nuclear power reactor vendors. The first, with Westinghouse, sets up L&T to produce component modules for the Westinghouse AP1000 reactor. It said that this would enable the two companies "to utilize indigenous capabilities for the turnkey construction of nuclear power plants including supply of reactor equipment and systems, valves, electrical & instrumentation products and fabrication of structural, piping and equipment modules for Westinghouse AP1000 plants." The second agreement was with Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd (AECL) "to develop a competitive cost/scope model for the ACR-1000." In April L&T signed an agreement with Atomstroyexport primarily focused on components for the next four VVER reactors at Kudankulam, but extending beyond that to other Russian VVER plants in India and internationally. Then in May it signed an agreement with GE Hitachi to produce major components for ABWRs - the two companies hope to utilize indigenous Indian capabilities for the complete construction of nuclear power plants including the supply of reactor equipment and systems, valves, electrical and instrumentation products for ABWR plants to be built in India. In 2015 Westinghouse said that L&T was equipped to produce reactor pressure vessels and other major components for AP1000 reactors. Early in 2021 it appeared that only the Russian agreement amounted to anything.

Following the 2008 removal of trade restrictions, Indian companies led by Reliance Power (RPower), NPCIL and Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) planned to invest over US$ 50 billion in the next five years to expand their manufacturing base in the nuclear energy sector.

State-owned Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) claims to be the largest engineering and manufacturing enterprise in India in the energy-related infrastructure sector, and has provided some 80% of the heavy equipment for India"s indigenous nuclear power programme, including all the steam turbines and generators. In March 2021 it won a INR 10,800 crore ($1.5 billion) order for six 700 MWe turbine islands. It has increased its production capacity to 20,000 MWe of plant per year and planned to spend $7.5 billion in two years building plants to supply components for reactor units of 1600 MWe. It also planned to set up a 50-50 venture with NPCIL that would supply components for nuclear plants of 700 MWe, 1000 MWe and 1600 MWe. It planned to install a 10,000 tonne forging press. It was also setting up an office in Shanghai in 2009 to source castings and forgings.

Creusot Forge is a Framatome subsidiary located in the Le Creusot basin in Burgundy, central France, with four production facilities. It claims a strategic position in Europe for fabrication of very heavy mechanical components (up to 500 tonnes in one piece), including reactor pressure vessels and steam generators. It has an 11,300 tonne hydraulic forging press and a 9000 tonne one commissioned in mid-2014. The new press, coupled with a 200-tonne manipulator, allows for the forging of steel, alloy and superalloy ingots weighing between 15 and 260 tonnes. In 2006 the integration of SFARsteel boosted its capability to supply new generation reactors, and in particular the EPR. The nozzle shell ring for the EPR requires capacity to forge a 500 tonne ingot and formerly only JSW could do this.

Sheffield Forgemasters also makes casings for high pressure reactor coolant pumps, capable of pumping water at up to 430,000 litres per minute of coolant through a reactor core. In 2008 the company won a contract to supply 16-tonne stainless steel casings for the Westinghouse AP1000 reactors at Sanmen nuclear power plant in China and for two states in USA. it also supplies reactor coolant pump casings for Korea"s APR-1400 reactors, via KSB in Germany. It has also produced heavy forgings for UK nuclear power plants. In 2008 it signed an agreement with China"s Harbin Electric Co. (HEC) to produce a range of large-scale complex engineering products for civil nuclear, steam and hydro power plants in China. In 2009 it won contracts for Argentina (Embalse), and entered a ten-year £30 million technology transfer agreement with Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) for large power plant components.

Spain"s Equipos Nucleares SA (ENSA), based in Madrid, provides a lot of heavy equipment for Westinghouse plants. In April 2009 GE Hitachi signed a strategic agreement for ENSA to manufacture and supply reactor pressure vessels for new GE Hitachi-designed ESBWR and ABWR units. In February 2009, Japan Steel Works (JSW) supplied the first of six forgings required to fabricate one ESBWR reactor pressure vessel, and ENSA anticipated completing the manufacturing process by mid-2012. It produces reactor pressure vessels, steam generators and other components at its factory on the north coast of Spain for nuclear power plants in several countries, including the USA, China, South Korea, South Africa, France and Sweden. It is providing steam generators to Shanghai Electric (SENPE) for Sanmen 2 AP1000 in China. ENSA exports 85% of its production.

Italy’s Società delle Fucine (SdF) established in 1884 at its Terni plant makes large forged components for power plants, including nuclear reactors, notably rotor forgings. It can produce almost all the components for reactors such as EPR and AP1000. It has an ingot capacity up 530 tonnes (450t hollow ingot), a 12,600 tonne and a 5000 tonne hydraulic forging press, as well as electric arc steel furnaces up to 180 tonne capacity. Since 1999 it has been a subsidiary of ThyssenKrupp AG.

Italy"s SAFAS is a steel foundry which produces castings up to 32 tonnes, including reactor cooling pump casings for Areva"s EPR projects (Olkiluoto, Flamanville, Taishan 1-2), Lingao 3-4 and other CPR-1000 units in China, and Changjiang CNP-600 units.

Izhorskiye Zavody, founded in 1722, has manufactured about 60 sets of equipment for VVER reactors in Russia and eight other countries. Its output includes reactor pressure vessels, steam generator shells, reactor internals, and heavy piping. It expected to produce the forgings for all new domestic AES-2006 model VVER-1200 nuclear reactors (four per year from 2016), plus exports. Izhora manufactured components for the Leningrad II and Novovoronezh II VVER-1200 units, for Tianwan 3&4 VVER-1000s, the Rostov 3&4 pressure vessels (also intended for Baltic 2 and Belene), and the reactor pressure vessel for Kudankulam 3 VVER-1000 in India. It supplied the main circulator pumps for Tianwan 4.

In 2008 the company rebuilt its 12,000-tonne hydraulic press, claimed to be the largest in Europe, and a second stage of work increased that capacity to 15,000 tonnes. In mid-2009 Izhora commissioned a furnace complex enabling production of 600-tonne ingots and 5.5 metre diameter forging shells for nuclear reactors. It doubled the production of large forgings from 2011 as part of its expansion to produce four sets of nuclear reactor components per year. The 600-tonne ingot capacity will also enable production of large rotors for low-speed turbines.

Atomenergomash (AEM) under Rosatom now claims to be the leading company in Russia for major components of nuclear power plants, controlling over 40 facilities, and to be the sole Russian source of steam generators and primary coolant pumps for nuclear plants. It has two design bureaus: OKB Gidropress for VVER reactors, and OKBM Afrikantov for fast neutron (BN) and naval/ marine reactors. At the end of 2018 its order book stood at RUR 133 billion.

AEM-Technology is developing its own capacity to make large VVER pressure vessels, until 2015 the monopoly preserve of OMZ"s Izhorskiye Zavody. Production so far has been mainly through Petrozavodskmash and EMSS in Ukraine, both of which are subsidiaries acquired in 2010, but since 2012 Atommash in the Volga region has come online and delivered Rosatom"s/AEM’s first large VVER pressure vessel in 2015. AEM claims to have provided equipment for 13% of nuclear plants worldwide, and to be the unique producer of steam generators for Russian nuclear plants, of reactor vessels for fast neutron reactors, and of the main circulating pumps for all Russian types of reactors. It also produces large transport casks for used fuel.

AEM-Technology’s Volgodonsk branch: Atommash was established in 1973 at Volgodonsk, close to steel sources and with a major mooring berth accessible from the Volga-Don Canal, as (then) principal nuclear equipment supplier for Russia. It was originally designed to produce eight nuclear power plant sets of VVER-1000 type (8 reactor pressure vessels, 8 pressurizers, 32 steam generators, 32 main circulation pumps and 8 full sets of main circulation tubes) per year. Atommash began producing large-scale reactor components in 1977 including pressure vessels, internal reactor parts, and steam generators. In 1981 it manufactured the first VVER-1000 reactor pressure vessel, which was shipped to the South Ukraine nuclear plant. Later, its products were supplied to Balakovo, Zaporozhie, Smolensk, Kalinin, Rovno and Khmelnitsky plants. It produced the Beloyarsk BN-600 pressure vessel. By 1986, Atommash had produced 14 RPVs, of which five remained at the factory. It became a joint-stock company in 1994, and after bankruptcy in 1997 this ‘nuclear engineering flagship’ was taken over as a branch of Energomash, until becoming part of Rosatom"s AEM-Technology in 2012.

Atommash supplied some parts for Bushehr in Iran and Tianwan in China, but until securing contracts for VVER-1200 core melt traps (core-catchers), each 810 tonnes, its focus was on the chemical, oil and gas industries and it had not handled any nuclear plant work for about 20 years. It has the capacity to make components up to 1200 tonnes. As a result of complex legal proceedings and a fraud conviction of the Energomash CEO, in October 2012 the plant was transferred to AEM-Technology, since the country’s nuclear programme needed it. This led to RUR 3 billion being spent on upgrading the plant over the next five years. It has the only single hydraulic dual-purpose sheet-stamping press available in Russia, with a maximum single-acting force of up to 15,120 tf, allowing stamping of a head up to 5 metres diameter and plates of up to 380mm thick. (Up to AEM taking over Atommash, the Krasnye Barrikady shipyard had been considered as a possible source of reactor pressure vessels.)

Chicago Bridge & Iron Co (CB&I) was awarded a $150 million engineering, procurement, fabrication and construction (EPFC) contract by Westinghouse to build the first two containment vessels for AP1000 reactors in southeastern USA – Summer plant – plus two more for USA. However, quality assurance issues led to delays in this, and at the end of 2015 it sold its Stone & Webster nuclear construction business to Westinghouse. CB&I has built 130 containment vessels around the world, including 75% of those for currently-operating US nuclear plants. It has also built 41 reactor pressure vessels and holds all relevant ASME accreditations. In 2018 CB&I merged with McDermott.