Why did the first projects to build nuclear reactors in the US since 1978 (four AP1000s: two at Vogtle and two at Summer) go so disastrously wrong, and end with Westinghouse being forced into Chapter 11 bankruptcy by massive cost overruns and building delays?
While this topic is covered in detail by a four-part series of videos by Decouple Media, each more than an hour long (Part 1: The nuclear renaissance
that wasn’t; Part 2: Murphy’s Law; Part 3: Was the NRC to blame? And Part 4: Can positive learning happen next?), a short, necessarily oversimplified summary of why the Vogtle and Summer projects went so terribly wrong is given below.
One obvious point was the long time since the last reactor had been built in the US, some thirty years ago. During this time, many skilled utilities and nuclear companies’ personnel with experience in nuclear build had retired, and new staff had to be recruited and retrained.
These expertise and training problems can be summarised as First in a Long Time (FILT).
Because of lack of experience, numerous errors were made, both in construction, designs, and supply chain. For example, numerous small and not so small changes had to be made when design changes were made … [please fill in the form to continue reading.]
