Transforming Nuclear Power
Curtiss‑Wright developed the canned motor pumps used in the nation’s first nuclear submarine, as well as in the first commercial nuclear power plant in 1957. Since those early days, Curtiss‑Wright’s continual technical contributions have helped transform the commercial power generation industry. Our nuclear business today ranges from valves and pumps that control flow within nuclear reactors, to industry standard solutions for fluid processing, control systems, and monitoring and diagnostics, to expertise in engineering services, spent fuel services, and product obsolescence services. This continual transformation also is evident in our critical role supporting the latest reactor designs, including Small Modular Reactors.
Curtiss‑Wright is focused on being among the top-five key global suppliers of critical components on all new generation reactor designs. There are nearly 70 reactors under construction in 13 countries, including the U.S., China, South Korea, Russia, Japan, India, and in emerging nuclear market countries.
We provide customers with new equipment specifically applicable to the most advanced designs, such as the reactor coolant pumps we developed for the Westinghouse AP1000® nuclear power plant. The AP1000 is the only Generation III+ reactor to receive design certification by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and is currently under construction in the United States and China. The AP1000 reactor coolant pump is unmatched in design and performance criteria, and we are justifiably proud of this engineering achievement.
An exciting development driving Curtiss‑Wright’s nuclear transformation is the introduction of numerous Small Modular Reactor (SMR) designs. These designs are specialized reactors for smaller-scale service requirements, such as a municipality or industrial facility, versus the wide geographic regions that conventional commercial reactors serve. SMRs’ generation capacity and footprint size are comparable to those of coal plants, while eliminating greenhouse gas emissions. While smaller in scale, SMRs require essentially the same equipment set and expertise as that needed for larger reactors, but with much lower costs to build and shorter construction schedules.
In addition to supporting new reactor programs, Curtiss‑Wright also continues to build a unified platform of nuclear services that enhance our position with customers. This responds to the industry’s need for improved equipment reliability, enhanced worker safety, optimized critical path outage evolutions, and reduction in personnel radiation exposure in the face of a diminishing pool of experienced workers and aging plants being retrofitted for extended operation. Because providing critical services necessitates our presence inside the plant with customers, this enables Curtiss‑Wright to examine plant problems and challenges first-hand to assist in providing solutions. It also helps identify opportunities for product development.
We are bolstering our position as a leading authority and supplier of products and services that extend the safety and useful life of spent fuel storage racks. This places Curtiss‑Wright in the vanguard for addressing the industry’s spent fuel storage challenges. Our NETCO-SNAP-IN® is an NRC-approved technology that can be easily installed to extend the life of spent fuel pool racks. We also are the leader in computerized, in-situ scanning systems that monitor neutron absorption performance. A growing number of facilities are reaching points in their neutron absorber lives that require our spent fuel management products and services.
We provide operating reactors with a comprehensive program for effectively managing plant obsolescence. Approximately 20% of all parts in U.S. nuclear power plants are obsolete. We have responded by adding over 6,700 proprietary modules and parts in the past eight years.
Unmatched knowledge, depth of experience, and technical superiority are the credentials Curtiss‑Wright presents as a leading supplier to the commercial nuclear power industry.