SwampFox

South Carolina Nuclear Supply Chain (Good news for the state)

Nuclear industry supply chain forges more links - By Shelia Watson. Southeast Supply Chain News
Published Dec. 21, 2010 (From Charleston Business Journal)

JENKINSVILLE — For several years, South Carolina has been fostering a relationship with China to exchange ideas and technology for work in the nuclear industry, including “job shadowing” at the V.C. Summer plant in Jenkinsville, S.C., by Chinese officials and visits to China by power industry officials from the state.

The S.C.-China connection just got stronger with Westinghouse Electric Company’s recent completion of prep work on its AP1000 nuclear power plants and production of the first four fuel assemblies at the company’s fuel fabrication facility in Columbia, S.C.

The fuel will be used at the Sanmen Unit 1, located in Zhejiang Province in China.

“Completion of this milestone is a significant achievement for Westinghouse,” said Joe Belechak, senior vice president for Westinghouse Nuclear Fuel.

Producing fuel for China’s nuclear reactors is also something of a milestone for South Carolina, given that the process reinforces the state as an important link in the global supply chain for China’s nuclear industry.

The supply chain for the nuclear industry is vast and offers potential for increased business.

Carol Berrigan, senior director for industry infrastructure and supply chain at the Nuclear Energy Institute, speaking at the subcommittee meeting on reactor and fuel cycle technology last August, offered an image of the nuclear industry’s supply chain on a national scale.

“If nuclear energy generation were to continue to provide 20% of the nation’s electricity supply, it would require the construction of between 20 and 25 new nuclear units by 2030,” she said. “If the industry were to construct these units, this would require between 287,200 and 359,000 man years of labor. Once built, these plants would require 8,000 to 17,500 permanent full time workers to operate the plants and additional supplemental labor for maintenance and outages.”

Berrigan noted that in the 30-year period since 1980, the U.S. nuclear supply chain had contracted because of a lack of new nuclear plant construction in the United States and abroad. With nuclear energy expansion underway, the United States has an opportunity to rejuvenate the nuclear manufacturing sector by supplying high-precision and high-quality components needed by nuclear technologies.

She quantified the demand for such commodities, components and services, pointing to NEI estimates.

“The world market represents potential orders of over $400 billion in equipment and services over the next 15 years,” she said. “As a rule of thumb, the Department of Commerce estimates that every $1 billion of exports by U.S. companies represents 5,000 to 10,000 jobs.”

Today, there are 60 nuclear power plants under construction around the world, with another 149 plants on order or planned and 344 projects under consideration, which Berrigan labeled “a significant opportunity for U.S.-based suppliers.”

The global supply chain for the nuclear industry is already benefiting U.S. companies in several states. NEI data shows that American companies in 25 states have booked export orders for more than $2.5 billion in equipment and services, including generators, reactor coolant pumps, and instrumentation and control systems.

Among the five lead projects around the world, three will obtain between 60% and 80% of components, commodities and services from U.S. companies, with potential orders reaching around $50 billion for the first wave of nuclear plants being built in the United States.

With several plants under construction in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, the Southeast stands to receive a considerable slice of that supply chain.

A 2009 Clemson University study on the economic impact of the nuclear cluster in the Carolinas indicates that the nuclear industry and its associated in-state supply chain currently provides more than 37,000 jobs, more than $2 billion in payroll, earned income of more than $4.7 billion and more than $750 million in state and local taxes.