Flowserve Corp., a global provider of fluid motion and control products and services, confirmed on 22 May 2008 that it will supply main steam isolation valves for the first two Westinghouse Electric Co. AP1000 nuclear power plant projects in China as part of a multi-million USD contract. The Flowserve Edward gate valves and actuators that will be used in the project are designed to be capable of isolating, for plant safety, the Westinghouse AP1000 reactor main steam pipelines in 3 to 5 seconds, and are the largest Flowserve valves of this type ever built. The new design also utilizes gravity in lieu of mechanical equipment to provide emergency cooling water flow. China selected Westinghouse to build four AP1000 nuclear power plants, and this contract represents the first valve production order in the world for this Westinghouse design. The new plants are to be located in Sanmen, Zhejiang province, and Haiyang, Shandong Province, with the first of these new plants expected to be operational in 2013, the second in 2014.