South Korea's Doosan Enerbility wins order for steam generator forgings for Shandong Laiyang Nuclear Power Units 5 and 6.

South Korea’s Doosan Enerbility announced on the 27th that it has signed supply contracts with Dongfang Electric International (DEI) and Dongfang Heavy Machinery (DFHM)—subsidiaries of China’s Dongfang Electric Corporation—to provide ultra-large forgings for the steam generators of Units 5 and 6 at the Laiyang Nuclear Power Plant in Shandong Province.

Under the contract, Doosan Enerbility plans to deliver eight ultra-large forgings in batches through 2029, comprising four water chamber heads and four tubesheets. These forgings, which serve as critical components in steam generator manufacturing, measure approximately 5 meters in diameter and weigh up to 130 tons each.

Steam generators are vital equipment for heat exchange between the primary and secondary circuits of a nuclear power plant. They utilize heat generated by the reactor to convert water in the secondary circuit into steam, which then drives the turbine to generate electricity. The water chamber head is located at the bottom of the steam generator and serves as the inlet and outlet for the reactor coolant, while the tubesheet supports thousands of heat-transfer tubes and isolates the reactor coolant from the secondary circuit water.

Doosan Enerbility stated that it has long supplied critical equipment materials to the global nuclear power market, leveraging the 17,000-ton press and ultra-large forging technology at its Changwon headquarters. This latest contract follows an order secured last year for steam generator forgings for Units 3 and 4 of the Laiyang Nuclear Power Plant, marking another success for the company in the project's subsequent units.

According to available data, Units 5 and 6 of the Laiyang Nuclear Power Plant are slated to utilize the CAP1400 reactor, a large-scale, advanced 1,400-megawatt pressurized water reactor model developed in China.

Kim Jong-doo, President of Doosan Enerbility, stated that the company would continue to enhance its competitiveness in the global nuclear power supply chain by leveraging its extensive manufacturing experience and ultra-large forging capabilities. The company also noted that, in addition to Chinese nuclear projects, it is supplying forgings for the Xe-100 project led by X-Energy—a U.S.-based small modular reactor (SMR) developer—and has been selected as a strategic partner by Rolls-Royce for its SMR project.