Nuclear

Our Nuclear Capabilities GEI's nuclear power capabilities from yesterday to today view this video »

GEI has completed over 40 projects at 20 nuclear power plant sites throughout the United States. We continue our involvement by helping to lead the renaissance of new generation plants.

Our responsibilities on many projects have ranged from consultation on specific seismic issues to total site geology and geotechnical investigations for site selection and licensing.

GEI has played a leading role in the development of liquefaction and seismic analyses for over 35 years. Many of the site evaluation techniques developed at GEI during the 1970’s remain as the state-of-practice today.

GEI recently completed investigations required to develop the final design of a planned reactor and to support UniStar’s September 2008 submission of a Combined License Application (COLA) to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). UniStar is proposing a 1,600MWe pressurized water reactor, based on AREVA NP’s Evolutionary Power Reactor (EPR) design, for the site. As a sub-contractor to AREVA NP, GEI was responsible for the geotechnical, geological and hydrological characterization of the site, which included subsurface investigation for potential onshore and offshore facilities.

In addition to the design and execution of the site characterization program, GEI was responsible for field and laboratory-based studies and preparation of the supporting documentation for detailed engineering of the proposed plant and the COLA. The field program consisted of onshore and offshore borings from beneath Lake Ontario to determine geotechnical properties of soil and bedrock for excavation and foundation support; installation of groundwater wells to determine water levels, flow characteristics and water quality; and onshore and offshore seismic surveys to identify the depth to bedrock, shear-wave velocities and potential faults or zones of weakness.