Curtiss-Wright Says One Reactor Coolant Pump In China Tripped And Shut Down

(RTTNews) - Responding to a media report discussing a potential issue with one of the reactor coolant pumps at the Sanmen 2 AP1000 nuclear reactor in China, Curtiss-Wright Corp. (CW) said that one of the four reactor coolant pumps located at the Sanmen 2 reactor in China unexpectedly tripped and shut down upon the detection of a reactor coolant pump fault.

At this time, the root-cause of this situation, presently limited to a single RCP, is unknown and we are in the process of evaluating the cause(s) in conjunction with Westinghouse and China. There are many situations that could possibly cause this type of an issue and the root cause will not be determined until the investigation is complete.

The reactor coolant pump or RCP in question was fully assembled and tested, completely air-tight and water-tight, and deemed to be fully operational when it left our Cheswick, PA plant. All of the required testing was successfully completed before it left the U.S.

After arriving in China, all 16 RCPs passed the required tests, which were signed off by the Chinese customer. The plants were later deemed to have achieved commercial operation.

In addition to the four RCPs at Sanmen 2, there are 12 RCPs currently operating in the other AP1000 plants at Sanmen and Haiyang in China.