Nuclear plants delayed in China, watched closely by US firms

ATLANTA (AP) U.S. power companies are watching closely as two state-of-the-art nuclear power plants are delayed in China. <br /> <br /> An official with China's State Nuclear Power Technology Corp., Guo Hongbo, recently said there would be delays building two nuclear plants at Sanmen and Haiyang. Those plants were built using designs for Westinghouse Electric Co.'s AP1000 reactor. <br /> <br /> The firm blamed some of the delays on problems designing a coolant pump for the reactor. <br /> <br /> The project in China is closely watched by U.S. firms building similar power plants in Georgia and South Carolina. The reactors in China are farther along. <br /> <br /> Westinghouse Electric Co. President Danny Roderick said the issues with the pumps will be resolved without any impact on the U.S. projects. <br /> <br /> U.S. builders have struggled to keep to their schedules.