Westinghouse wins $10 million contract for improvements at Chornobyl station (04/27/97)

Westinghouse wins $10 million contract for improvements at Chornobyl station

by Marco Levytsky
Special to The Ukrainian Weekly

EDMONTON - Pittsburgh-based Westinghouse Electric Corp. announced on March 26 that it was awarded a $10 million contract to manage implementation of $125 million in operational and safety improvements at the Chornobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine.

Under terms of the contract, Westinghouse and two subcontractors - National Nuclear Corp. of the United Kingdom and the Kyiv Design Institute of Ukraine - will establish and operate a project management unit that will provide integrated project management and engineering support services for 15 safety projects for Chornobyl reactor No. 3.

Additionally, the project management unit, which will also include personnel from the Chornobyl site, will coordinate construction of a liquid radioactive waste treatment plant and a spent fuel interim storage facility in preparation for decommissioning of all units at the site.

The project is being funded by a grant from the Nuclear Safety Account of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

Charles W. Pryor, president of the Westinghouse Energy Systems Business Unit, said the contract is significant for a number of reasons.

"The work we and our subcontractors will be undertaking is highly critical to Ukraine's effort to improve both the safety and operational characteristics of Unit 3 and to prepare for the safe and efficient decommissioning of Units 1, 2 and 3," he said.

"This will be a closely scrutinized project, and we are confident of success," added Mr. Pryor.

In May 1996 Westinghouse received a separate $20 million contract to provide safety parameter display systems for Soviet-designed nuclear reactors in Russia and Ukraine, including one for Chornobyl reactor No. 3.

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