Day & Zimmermann gets magazine's Nuclear Power Project of the Year award

Donald C. Cook Nuclear Generating Station
Donald C. Cook Nuclear Generating Station | Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Construction and engineering firm Day & Zimmermann (D&Z) has been honored with the Nuclear Power Project of the Year award from Power Engineering and Nuclear Power International magazine, Day & Zimmerman said on Wednesday.

This award was presented to both D&Z and AEP for their successful installation of a bridge crane at the Donald C. Cook Nuclear Generating Station in Bridgman, Michigan, while the plant was still in operation. A scheduled outage soon afterward was cut short by approximately one week, and the facility was able to save approximately $18 million.

"We are very proud of the innovative work we did with AEP on this unique project," Walt Sanders, president of Day & Zimmermann, said. "In addition to saving the customer millions of dollars, we executed this project without any human performance or safety issue.”

D&Z was able to perform this work by utilizing temporary lift assemblies that allowed plant operations to continue without interruption. The company said this was the first time such a project was done under these conditions, setting a precedent for future projects requiring this equipment.