China's plan to build dozens of nuclear plants is a highlight of ICONE 13 in Beijing

Emily Smith
ASME NEWS

BEJING — Plans to build some 30 nuclear power plants during the next 15 years attracted many companies and government officials to the 13th International Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE 13), which was sponsored by ASME, the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers and the Chinese Nuclear Society. The conference took place in Beijing from May 16–20.

High-level panel discussions were part of opening-day activities. Speakers included: Peiyan Zeng, vice premier of China; Tokio Kanoh, a member of the House of Councilors, Japan; Patrick Devedjian, French Minister of Industry; Stephen Tritch, president and CEO of Westinghouse; Vincent Maurel, president and CEO of Framatome-ANP; and Robert Van Adel, president and CEO of Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd.

China's plans to build approximately 30 nuclear power plants in the next 15 years are well-known in the industry. So, ASME and JSME approached the Chinese Nuclear Society about hosting ICONE 13 in Beijing. With China in the process of reviewing bids for new reactors from vendors, ICONE 13 became a networking hub. Many companies interested in doing business in China had strong participation during the conference.

The opening day had 900 delegates in attendance. The remaining days had about 600 delegates.

An exhibit had presentation booths from 14 companies well-known in the nuclear industry. Participating companies included Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., AREVA, British Nuclear Group/ Westinghouse Electric Co., Electricite de France and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd.

The 540 technical papers presented at the conference covered the following topics: Plant Operations; Installation and Life Cycle; Major Components Reliability and Materials Issues; Structural Integrity and Dynamics; Nuclear Engineering Advances; Near-Term Deployment and Next-Generation Systems; Safety and Security; Codes; Standards; Licensing and Regulatory Issues; Fuel Cycle and High-Level Waste Management; Low-Level Waste Management and Decommissioning; Thermal Hydraulics, and Promotion of Nuclear Energy.

A student program was attended by approximately 45 students who were funded to attend the conference and present technical papers. These students were selected from applicants who had submitted technical papers to a competition. The best papers submitted to the competition were selected for inclusion in the conference.

The purpose of the student program is to facilitate interaction between young engineers starting their careers in the nuclear industry and experienced engineers. The students were also taken to the Institute of Nuclear and New Energy at Tsinghua University, the China Institute of Atomic Energy, the Great Wall, and the Forbidden City.

Student-program attendees were also offered technical tours of the High-Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor at Tsinghua University/INET and the fast reactor at the China Institute of Atomic Energy.

Special social events were sprinkled throughout the conference. During a conference banquet, musicians played traditional Chinese music. The Peking Opera and an acrobat show were highlights of several evening programs.

ASME, in fulfilling its role of corporate advocacy, hosted a private reception for 100 people, where top officials of companies heavily involved with the nuclear industry met with Chinese government and industry officials to discuss how they could assist China with its nuclear power plant construction plan.

The reception, which was separate from ICONE 13, was sponsored by Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd.; AREVA; Bechtel; Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. and Westinghouse.

Next year, ICONE 14 will be held in Miami from July 17–20, 2006. ICONE 14 will be co-located with the ASME Fluids Engineering Conference. For details, visit www.conferencetoolbox.org/ICONE14.

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