Using a giant pair of scissors, officials at GE Hitachi cut the ribbon Monday to officially open the company’s new reactor under-vessel training area at the plant in Castle Hayne.  The full-size replica of the underside of a GE Hitachi boiling water reactor, as well as the service platform beneath it, will be used to train hundreds of professionals involved in refueling and maintenance work at the company's boiling-water reactors around the world. Total cost for creating the training replica was more than $750,000, according to GEH officials.

No new hiring is anticipated at this time to support the upcoming training, company officials said Monday.

After the opening ceremony, two employees, dressed in protective white suits, demonstrated the capabilities of the training station. They used the rotating platform to position themselves directly underneath the equipment they were working on. For demonstration purposes Monday, the repair team worked in dry conditions, but normally, trainees will maintain or refuel the reactor as water drips on them from above.

Once each segment of the work is completed, another member of the service team uses a remote monitor (at right)to activate new or repaired part to ensure it is working. The activation can be done from as far away as 300 feet, to protect the employee from contamination.

The training area was built in about six months, using local design and construction resources in addition to GEH personnel, said GEH field services general manager Beth Lemmons. Training the 780 or so field service personnel under these realistic conditions will increase their proficiency, reducing the length of outages at plants that are undergoing repairs or maintenance, she said.

Design for the training area was done by Wilmington-based Andrew Consulting Engineers, following the specifications provided by GEH, said firm president Neal Andrew. The firm, which has a master services agreement with GEH, has done a significant amount of design work at both the nuclear plant and the GE Aircraft plant over the past 15 years or so. Before that, Andrew said, his father’s engineering firm, Andrew and Kuske, worked at the shared site.

“GE is very good about using local companies,” Andrew said.