GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) has announced a new workforce training initiative to support Poland’s plans for a new nuclear power programme. It has also signed a memorandum of understanding with SNC-Lavalin Polska to help expand the Polish supply chain.
Poland is proposing to build up to four new reactors at two sites. In support of this GEH has donated ten GateCycle software licenses to the Warsaw University of Technology to help train a new generation of engineers to operate the facilities. Five of the licenses were donated in March 2010, with another five in May.
GEH’s GateCycle heat balance software is used to model nuclear steam cycles and is a valuable tool in teaching engineering students advanced methods of plant modeling and troubleshooting to optimize plant performance.
GEH MOU with SNC-Lavalin
GEH has also signed a preliminary agreement with global engineering services firm SNC-Lavalin Polska to collaborate on new commercial nuclear power plant opportunities in Poland.
This is the second, important memorandum of understanding (MOU) GEH has signed to support Poland’s commercial nuclear construction initiative. In March, GEH and PGE Polska Grupa Energetyczna SA (PGE), Poland’s largest power company, announced an agreement to collaborate on Poland’s plans to build next-generation commercial nuclear power plants.
Under the new MOU, GEH and SNC-Lavalin Polska are continuing their discussions in support of PGE as the utility evaluates the potential of building up to four reactors based on one of two GEH reactor designs: the 1350MWe ABWR or the 1520-MWe ESBWR.
“We are very fortunate to be partnering in Poland with a company of SNC-Lavalin’s reputation, experience and resources required to successfully develop power plant projects in Poland and throughout the world,” says GEH’s senior vice president of new plant projects Danny Roderick.
