Figured I'd add post to this thread since it's the only one I could find which wasn't locked. The WSJ ran a good article today on the comeback of Nuclear power in the West. Apparently poor welds is one of the biggest challenges with units which have been built and/or are under construction. Existing labor force lost the skillset due to the age gap between new and existing units.
Nuclear Power Is Poised for a Comeback. The Problem Is Building the Reactors.
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South Carolina utilities ordered two reactors for the V.C. Summer plant, while Georgia Power ordered two for the Vogtle plant. To keep costs down and improve quality, Westinghouse and its partner, Shaw Group Inc., decided to employ a new strategy in nuclear construction: forging pieces of the reactor at a factory, then assembling them at the plant site.
The manufacturing would be done at a Shaw factory in Lake Charles, La., amid the region’s booming oil-and-gas industry. Christopher Hartz, who was in charge of quality control at Shaw’s nuclear division, said many of the workers at the plant had no experience in nuclear welding and struggled to meet the industry’s exacting standards.
“The first module pieces they welded looked like pretzels,” Mr. Hartz said.
In 2010, Mr. Hartz led a team that included executives from V.C. Summer and Vogtle to audit the plant. They found that manufacturing quality had regressed and voted to stop work, he said. When Mr. Hartz told a manager at the plant, he said, the manager threw a letter opener at him and nearly struck him. Mr. Hartz resigned months later.
The forged pieces that the plant finally shipped to Vogtle were poorly made, regulators and union officials said...'