Westinghouse Electric Company
Westinghouse 3D printed fuel flow plate
Westinghouse Electric Company has 3D printed its 1,000th fuel flow plate, marking a significant milestone for both the nuclear power company and the adoption of additive manufacturing technologies in the energy sector.
The flow plates are thought to be the ‘first ever safety-related AM components to enter serial production’ and are installed in VVER-440 fuel assemblies. The design takes advantage of design for additive manufacturing with a redesign of the assemblies’ bottom part which is said to deliver more robust performance. The plates were recently announced as finalists for the TCT Industrial Product Application Award at the 2024 TCT Awards.
“This achievement showcases the development of additive manufacturing from prototyping to full-scale production, generating tangible value for our customers,” said Lou Martínez Sancho, Westinghouse Chief Technology Officer and Executive Vice President, R&D and Innovation. “This marks another Westinghouse pioneering achievement in AM Technology holding the commitment to strengthen safety, efficiency, sustainability and energy security.”
Westinghouse Electric Company’s technology is said to be the basis for nearly half of the world's operating nuclear plants. The Pennsylvania-headquartered company carried out its first material irradiation study of AM nuclear components back in 2015 and has since gone on to use the technology to explore cost and lead-time reductions for energy generation. Five years later it installed its first safety-related 3D printed component, a Thimble Plugging Device manufactured with metal powder bed fusion technology, into an operating commercial reactor. The device is used in nuclear reactors to help lower fuel assemblies into nuclear reactor cores and was installed in Exelon’s Byron Unit 1 nuclear plant during its spring refuelling outage.
