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Design-Build in the nuclear world

January 2015

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JANUARY 2015 — The nuclear world is facing ever-evolving standards and protocols. These stringent regulations often present challenges for nuclear plants and operators. Alternate project delivery methods, particularly design-build, are becoming prevalent in the power industry. These methods combat many of the trials and tribulations that delay design and construction during critical junctures throughout the life of a project.

With the right team, the design-build process will streamline communication with all major stakeholders and foster a collaborative environment. It will generate innovative, collective design and construction methods while fast-tracking decision making. Through these processes, a cost-effective, efficient and quality project can be delivered to serve the needs of the end user without major delays in schedule or budget.

Garney is currently working in collaboration with a General Contractor on a design-build-operate nuclear power plant in the southeast. With the rigorous regulations at the forefront, Garney and the General Contractor were able to vet the best solutions to provide filtered and potable water to meet guidelines set forth for the plant. Although a conventional filter process was initially selected, Garney coordinated with the General Contractor and Owner to provide an ultrafiltration membrane system at a lower capital and operating cost.

The General Contractor was required to provide a conceptual design for the raw water intake system in order to obtain the necessary permits. Garney was able to design an alternate intake structure that was less intrusive to the environment, in addition to saving the General Contractor over $600,000 – all within the scheduled completion date.

During the pilot testing, bromide was discovered in the water. Bromide is not a natural occurring chemical and was added to the waters upstream by other industries. The chemical is not easy to remove and was not anticipated in the selection of the process equipment. This issue caused a tremendous impact to the project, but was easily mitigated through collaborations via the design-build process.

Time and time again, Garney is seeing success with projects constructed via alternate project delivery methods as projects are typically constructed ahead of schedule and below budget. Much of this success can be attributed to communication and trust built throughout the life of the project.

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