Duke Sues Westinghouse Over Canceled EPC Nuke Contract

Duke Energy Florida said in a lawsuit filed in federal court on March 28 that the utility is entitled to a $54.1-million refund from Westinghouse Electric for "milestone payments" DEF made for turbine generators and other elements of the Levy County, Fla., nuclear station, whose engineering-procurement-construction contract was later canceled. DEF also said in the complaint it filed against Westinghouse at the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina that Westinghouse claims it incurred more than $482 million in direct costs related to its work on the two-unit, 2,234-MW project and that DEF also owes Westinghouse a $30-million "agreement termination fee."The utility said it never approved the $482 million in work tied to the costs. No termination fee is due, Duke adds, because the EPC contract's can-celation was linked to failure to secure combined construction and operating licenses for the project by the Jan. 1, 2014, deadline.

Golden Gate Bridge To Get Net System To Prevent Suicides

With the suicide rate rising at San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge, authorities are moving forward with a plan to build a $66-million "suicide-deterrent system," consisting of a net draped 20 ft below the sidewalk and extending out horizontally about 20 ft along the sides of the 220-ft-high, 1.7-mile-long structure. "Given the conditions of the weather, with air and moisture variations, we are using a stainless-steel grid system that is very strong," says Ali Rejaie, Northern California Structures Dept. manager for project designer HNTB Corp., Kansas City. Caltrans and the Golden Gate Bridge District, the agency that operates the bridge, must reach on agreement on funding when their respective boards meet.

Fluor and U.K.'s Babcock Win $11.7-Billion Award in Britain

Amid stiff competition, Texas-based Fluor Corp. and the U.K.'s Babcock International Group have won the 14-year decommissioning contract for Britain's aging nuclear powerplant sites, an award worth up to $11.7 billion. Under the contract, announced on March 31 by the U.K. Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, the firms will manage and operate work at 12 sites that date to the 1950s. The competing teams were site management incumbent EnergySolutions, Salt Lake City, partnered with Bechtel; Denver-based CH2M Hill, with Areva and Serco; and U.K. firms Amec, Atkins and Rolls-Royce. Published reports in Britain say the contract is one of the largest single government awards ever made. The bidding process took two years.