Project Uses MicroStation and i-models to Help Determine Safe, Rational, and Cost-effective Approach to Decommissioning Aging Nuclear Power Plants in Japan

United Arab Emirates, Dubai - 24 May 2015 - Bentley Systems, Incorporated, the leading company dedicated to providing comprehensive software solutions for sustaining infrastructure, today announced that Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy, Ltd.'s project "Development of Decommissioning Engineering Platform Based on 3D Plant Model" has won a 2014 Be Inspired Award. The project won in the "Innovation in Power Generation" category. The 2014 Be Inspired Awards winners were selected by nine independent panels of jurors comprising distinguished industry experts. The awards honor the extraordinary work of Bentley users improving and sustaining the world's infrastructure, recognizing outstanding and innovative project achievements in infrastructure design, construction, and operations.

The Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy project was prompted by the Japanese government's decision to decommission all nuclear reactors that are more than 40 years old. By the 2040s, decommissioning will peak at more than 50 percent of Japan's domestic plants.

Decommissioning nuclear power plants takes as many as several thousand workers, 10 years, and a cost of JPY 36 to 77 billion per reactor. The objective of the project was to accurately calculate the amount of waste materials that must be managed as radioactive substances for each nuclear power plant. With the help of MicroStation's 3D modeling capabilities and i-models, the Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy joint venture assessed the radiation dose for workers, the number of man-hours and amount of radioactive waste materials generated from the demolition, demolition procedure data, and residual radioactivity.

Anne-Marie Walters, Bentley industry marketing director, process manufacturing and resources industries, said, "The Be Inspired Awards jurors selected this project for its innovative approach to an extreme engineering challenge - an approach that fully leveraged the ability of i-models to integrate geometric volumes with complex data. The jurors commended the Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy team for carefully and methodically thinking through the disassembly process of nuclear plants and changing the approach from the traditional consideration of plant weight to the consideration of plant volume. This enabled the team to take into account the radiation dose rate from each part of the plant. The team was then able to develop a safe, rational, and cost-effective approach to decommissioning Japan's aging nuclear power plants. On behalf of my colleagues at Bentley, I congratulate Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy on these extraordinary accomplishments."

Masato Oura, Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy, Ltd., Nuclear Power Business Development & Management Division, chief project manager, said, "In the future, a number of Japan's nuclear power plants will begin to exceed the 40-year maximum operating life established by the government and, therefore, will need to be decommissioned. In preparation for this monumental task, we need to accurately estimate the safety of the decommissioning process, the amount of radioactive waste material that will need to be managed during each decommissioning, and the cost involved. This project enabled us to prove an approach that accurately estimates the amount of radioactive material involved by converting data from Hitachi-GE's own CAD system, in conjunction with a customization of Bentley's MicroStation 3D information modeling system and i-models. As a result of the project's tremendous success, we would like to promote the further use and development of this system."

About Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy, Ltd.
Hitachi-GE, a joint venture established by Hitachi, Ltd. and General Electric Company in July 2007, as one of the world's leading comprehensive plant manufacturers, engages in the development, planning, design, manufacture, inspection, installation, pre-operation, and maintenance of nuclear reactor-related equipment and is able to execute integrated project management. Hitachi-GE has been involved with 23 reactors in Japan to date, including those currently under construction. Among them, it has participated in all of Japan's Advanced Boiling Water Reactor (ABWR) projects - four ABWRs are already operational and three are under construction. Overseas, it has supplied major nuclear reactor equipment for the Lungmen Nuclear Power Plant in Taiwan. For additional information about Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy, Ltd., visit www.hitachi-hgne.co.jp/en/index.html.

About Bentley Systems
Bentley Systems is the global leader dedicated to providing architects, engineers, geospatial professionals, constructors, and owner-operators with comprehensive software solutions for advancing the design, construction, and operations of infrastructure. Bentley users leverage information mobility across disciplines and throughout the infrastructure lifecycle to deliver better-performing projects and assets. Bentley solutions encompass MicroStation applications for information modeling, ProjectWise collaboration services to deliver integrated projects, and AssetWise operations services to achieve intelligent infrastructure - complemented by worldwide professional services and comprehensive managed services. Founded in 1984, Bentley has more than 3,000 colleagues in over 50 countries, more than $600 million in annual revenues, and since 2006 has invested more than $1 billion in research, development, and acquisitions. For additional information about Bentley Systems, visit www.bentley.com.

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