NuScale Power installs steam generator at SIET complex in Italy

NuScale Power of Portland, Oregon, has successfully installed a full-length helical coil steam generator (HCSG) at the SIET S.p.A (SIET) facilities in Piacenza, Italy, the company said Wednesday.

Constructed in a fabrication shop near the SIET facility, the NuScale design includes a first-of-a-kind HCSG for conversion of nuclear heat into process steam. SIET already has extensive experience with similar heat-exchanger test-bundle fabrication, as well as prior experience testing for other reactor vendors.

Testing of the HCSG will be conducted at prototypic fluid temperatures while using pressure and flow-rate measurements to validate NuScale’s computer codes and help NuScale vendors optimize the performance of their steam turbines.

Flow-induced vibration testing also will be performed as part of the HCSG assessment.

"The fabrication, installation and subsequent testing of this full-length HCSG is an important step in the continued support of our reactor safety code development and validation, our reactor design and our technology maturation to reduce first-of-a-kind risk,” NuScale co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Jose Reyes said. “This is another key milestone for the development of our innovative technology."

HCSG tests will provide significant data for the NuScale Design Certification Application planned for Nuclear Regulatory Commission submittal in the second half of 2016 and for the first planned Combined Operating License Application for the Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems Carbon Free Power Project.