Westinghouse Electric Company has won a contract to segment the reactor vessel head (RVH) and reactor vessel (RV) at the José Cabrera Nuclear Power Station in Spain. The work, which began in June, is expected to take around two years.
The contract from the Spanish agency responsible for radioactive waste management and nuclear plant decommissioning, ENRESA, covers the dismantling and segmentation of the RVH and RV, as well as any up-front engineering studies.
"Design of the RVH/RV detachment, manipulation and lifting to the spent fuel pool where mechanical cutting of the components will take place," will also be included, Westinghouse said.
Westinghouse will be the lead contractor for the project, and MONLAIN and VSL will be the main subcontractors. The project began in June 2013 and is expected to take approximately two years to complete.
The contract represents the first time a Westinghouse designed pressurized water reactor (PWR) vessel will be segmented in Spain and second in Europe (after Chooz A in France).
Also known as Zorita, José Cabrera is a 142 MWe Westinghouse pressurized water reactor, which closed in April 2006 after 38 years of operation.
Photo: Spain's José Cabrera nuclear plant
