MRP 227
Reactor
Vessel
Examinations
By Bryan Woyak, NextEra Energy.
Bryan Woyak
Bryan Woyak, Program Engineering
Manager – NextEra Energy, has been
at Point Beach
since 1998 and
worked in Design
and Programs
Engineering.
Bryan holds a BS
in Engineering
Mechanics from
the University of
Wisconsin and an
MBA from DePaul
University.
Nuclear Energy Institute’s Top Industry
Practice (TIP) Awards highlight the
nuclear industry’s most innovative
techniques and ideas.
This innovation won the Westinghouse
Vendor Award.
The team members who participated
included: Bryan Woyak, Engineering
Programs Manager; Eugene Ciferno,
Project Manager; Steve Forsha,
Materials Engineer; Mike Mudawar,
Westinghouse Project Manager.
Summary
Point Beach successfully performed
ultrasonic and first-of-a-kind visual in-
spections associated with long-term
aging management of the Point Beach
Unit 1 reactor pressure vessel internals.
During the Point Beach Unit 1 spring
2013 refueling outage, NextEra Energy
successfully examined various elements
of the reactor internals using three dif-
ferent inspection techniques: ultrasonic,
visual (VT-3) and enhanced visual (EVT-
1). Ultrasonic testing (UT) was used to
inspect 728 baffle former bolts to deter-
mine bolt integrity. Visual examination
(VT-3 technique) of the baffle edge bolts,
baffle plates and
thermal shield flex-
ures was performed
using high-radiation
cameras attached to
long- handle poles.
See graphic 1 for a
general layout of the
reactor vessel inter-
nals.
Safety
The inspections
were performed in
accordance with the
requirements of the
Materials Reliability
Program
(MRP):
Pressurized
Water
Reactors (PWR) Internals Inspection
and Evaluation Guidelines (MRP-227-A,
Rev 0), which provides direction for
establishing plant-specific PWR internals
aging management programs to monitor
the condition of the internals in order to
maintain appropriate levels of plant safety
and reliability. Point Beach followed the
NextEra Fleet Safety Guiding Principles
and leveraged the corporate-wide safety
campaign (“Zero Today”) to complete
this project with no safety events of any
kind. Enhanced safety performance was
ensured with Point Beach vendor partners
through rigorous oversight and a formal
Site indoctrination processes.
Cost Savings
The project was completed under
budget and ahead of schedule by about
one and a half days (critical path time). No
significant FME, Personal Containment
Event (PCE), dose, or safety events were
encountered during the inspections.
Significant efforts were made to use
realistic mock ups to practice prior to
actual performance. These efforts, in
concert with numerous table top reviews,
were the drivers for excellent project
performance.
Innovation
Point Beach was the first plant to
perform all of the MRP 227 inspections in
one outage and the first plant to perform
an inspection of the lower core barrel
girth weld. Two first-of-a-kind tools
were designed, manufactured, tested, and
qualified to perform the EVT-1 exams on
the core barrel. One of the tools delivered
a 12,000 pixel fiberscope into the 1.3 inch
annulus between the core barrel and
thermal shield about twenty feet below
the cavity water surface. In addition, the
latest generation of the Westinghouse-
designed MIDAS mini-submarine fleet
was used to deliver a UT transducer
to each baffle former bolt head. The
submarine contained a camera that
allowed remote, real time viewing of the
delivery of the transducer, and permitted
recording of the examination for each and
every bolt.
Productivity/Efficiency
The most challenging aspect of
the inspection involved the visual
examination of the four circumferential
welds around the core barrel. In response
to this challenge, Point Beach and its
vendor partners, designed, manufactured,
tested and qualified two first-of-a-kind
tools to perform the EVT-1 exams. One
tool was used to inspect the upper flange
weld, upper girth weld, and lower flange
weld of the Core Barrel. The other tool
was used to inspect the lower girthweld on
the Core Barrel. Access to all four welds
was a critical element for consideration
in designing the tooling. The lower girth
weld presented a particular inspection
challenge due to its location behind the
thermal shield. Access to the weld was
eight feet below the top of the thermal
shield with a nominal annulus dimension
of 1.3 inches wide. To ensure project
success Point Beach relied on one of
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NuclearPlantJournal.com Nuclear Plant Journal, March-April 2015
