US-based Curtiss-Wright Corporation and Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories (SEL) have signed a teaming agreement whereby Curtiss-Wright will serve as a channel to market SEL’s digital protective relays and engineering services for the global commercial nuclear market. Under the agreement, Curtiss-Wright aims to support the domestic and international nuclear fleet with qualified safety related and non-safety related SEL digital protection products.
SEL invents, designs, and builds digital products and systems that protect power grids around the world, helping to prevent blackouts and enabling customers to improve power system reliability, safety, and cost. SEL invented the first microprocessor-based digital protective relay in 1982 offering a new functionality in power system protection. “SEL invented this type of technology. Their expertise in the design and manufacture of digital protection products will enhance Curtiss-Wright’s ability to offer innovative digital solutions that promote safety and efficiency, resolve obsolescence challenges, and support advanced nuclear technologies,” said Kurt Mitchell, Vice President & General Manager of Curtiss-Wright’s Nuclear Division.
Curtiss-Wright has supported the commercial nuclear power industry since the first US NPP went online in 1957, and is one of the few companies that hold N-stamp quality assurance certifications indicating nuclear-grade status as designated by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission or NRC. While many companies abandoned the commercial nuclear industry and their N-stamps over the years, Curtiss-Wright has continued to expand these certifications.
The company supplies highly engineered, critical function products and services to the commercial, industrial, defence and energy markets. In September, it signed a preferred strategic supplier agreement with X-energy to advance the design and deployment of X-energy’s Xe-100 advanced small modular reactor (SMR). Curtiss-Wright was selected as a preferred supplier to develop and provide three of the most critical systems for the SMR’s Nuclear Steam Supply System.
