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NuclearPlantJournal.com Nuclear Plant Journal, July-August 2014
Utility,
Industry &
Corporation
Utility
Refueling Outage
Operators returned Braidwood
Generating Station Unit 2 to full power,
marking the end of the unit’s scheduled
refueling outage that began May 3, 2014
More than 2,000
Exelon
employees
and highly skilled contractors performed
more than10,000 carefully choreographed
activities during the outage. These
activities included numerous safety
inspections and equipment tests,
along with plant refurbishments and
improvements.
“The work performed during the
refueling outage will ensure our ability
to provide safe, clean and reliable
electricity during the hot summer months
and beyond,” said Braidwood Site Vice
President Mark Kanavos.
Braidwood Station Unit 1 continued
to operate at full power during the Unit
2 outage.
Braidwood Generating Station is
approximately 60 miles southwest of
Chicago and can produce more than
2,300 megawatts of carbon free electricity
– enough to power more than 2 million
typical homes.
Contact: Neal Miller, telephone:
(815) 417-3184.
Industry
Working Group
The Nuclear Science and Technology
Committee of Japan’s Ministry of
Education, Culture, Sports, Science and
Technology (MEXT) Council announced
the establishment of a working group
related to high- temperature gas-cooled
reactors (HTGRs). The group’s purpose is
to evaluate the current R&D situation of
HTGRs and discuss their future direction,
based on domestic and foreign needs.
According to the 4
th
Strategic
Energy Plan, released in April 2014
by the Agency for Natural Resources
and Energy (ANRE) of the Ministry of
Economy, Trade and Industry (METI),
HTGR technology is believed to help
hydrogen production and various other
industrial applications.
Given the inherent safety of HTGRs,
Japan is also planning to promote their
R&D while focusing on international
cooperation.
Contact:
Japan Atomic Industrial
Forum, Inc.
, website:
Corporation
NDE Examinations
AREVA Inc.’s
dedicated entity for
non-destructive examinations (NDE),
NDE Solutions, has successfully
completed a record number of nuclear
reactor inspections during the 2014
spring outage season in the United States.
The scope of work included nine
steam generator eddy-current outages,
seven reactor vessel head inspections,
three reactor vessel examinations and
three integrated NDE outages related
to managing aging materials. These
inspections, which certified the safety
of the components, were all completed
safely, on budget and on schedule.
NDE certify the integrity of nuclear
reactor components to ensure safe, long-
term reactor operation. AREVA Inc.’s
NDE Solutions provides high-quality
inspection services and technologies
to help customers worldwide meet the
stringent and highly regulated criteria for
NDE.
Contact: Mary Beth Ginder,
telephone: (301) 841-1703, email:
Nuclear Grade Air Trap
AREVAInc.
has signed anagreement
with engineering firm NUCCORP Inc. to
be the exclusive supplier of NUCCORP’s
patented Nuclear Grade Air Trap
(NGAT™) technology to the nuclear
industry. This device passively monitors
and accumulates air and gas in nuclear
plant cooling systems.
If allowed to accumulate, air
and gas can compromise the proper
operation of the emergency core cooling
systems. A one-of-a-kind solution, the
NGAT™ continuously monitors for an
accumulation of air and gas, allowing for
quick ventilation of the affected system
to ensure the plant’s continued safe
operation.
The NGAT™ system eliminates the
need for periodic venting and ultrasonic
testing inspections, which can increase
costs and impair operational efficiency.
Winner of a 2012 Nuclear Energy
Institute Vendor Top Industry Practice
award, the simply designed device can be
easily installed in existing plants and has
already been successfully demonstrated
in operation.
Contact: Mary Beth Ginder,
telephone: (301) 841-1703, email:
Underground Storage
The construction of a 48-cavity
HI-STORM UMAX storage facility
at Ameren’s Callaway nuclear plant
is proceeding apace. The first loading
campaign, consisting of six MPC-37
canisters, is scheduled to begin in mid-
June 2015. The site construction is
expected to end in January 2015 and the
dry run is scheduled for April-May 2015.
The underground storage technology
was developed by
Holtec
in the aftermath
of 9/11. The storage system essentially
consists of a 25 feet thickmonolithic block
of concrete with embedded thick walled
metallic “cavity enclosure containers”
fortified from above and below by thick
reinforced concrete mats, making the
storage system essentially indifferent to
the height of the subterranean water table.
Contact: Amy Grant, telephone:
(856) 797-0900, email:
a.grant@holtec.
com
.
Full Scope Upgrade
L-3 MAPPS
has added PPL
Susquehanna LLC as a new customer for
its leading-edge power plant simulation
capabilities. Using its robust Orchid®
simulation environment, L-3 MAPPS will
replace the computing environment and
plant models for the Susquehanna Unit 1
full scope simulator. Work is underway
and the upgraded simulator is targeted to
be in service by the third quarter of 2016.
Contact: Sean Bradley, telephone:
(514) 787-4953.
Nuclear Safety
Lockheed Martin
and State Nuclear
Power Automation System Engineering
Company (SNPAS), China, have signed
an agreement to prototype, manufacture
