Switching
to Digital
By Craig Irish, AZZ Nuclear | NLI.
Craig Irish
Craig is currently the Vice President,
Sales & Marketing for AZZ Nuclear
| NLI, Craig Irish graduated from
University of Lowell
with a Bachelor of
Science in Nuclear
Engineering in
1989. Craig has
since been involved
with material
certification,
dedication,
qualification
and custom
manufacturing
within the nuclear
industry starting
with the Navy,
expanded upon at National Technical
Systems and refined with Nuclear
Logistics, Inc.
An interview by Newal Agnihotri,
Editor of Nuclear Plant Journal, at
the American Nuclear Society Utility
Working Conference in Amelia Island,
Florida on August 14 ,2014.
1.
What was the most challenging
project in the last two years for AZZ |
NLI?
We’re just finishing up a specialized
level instrumentation for Westinghouse.
We developed these brand-new level
transmitters, first of a kind, level
measurement for core makeup tanks
and containment flood-up for the new
AP1000s. We worked with a partner
company called Krohne and developed a
brand-new first of a kind level transmitter
for the Westinghouse AP1000 project for
the plants in China and for Vogtle and VC
Summer in the US.
That’s a safety related ASME Sec-
tion III, harsh environmentally qualified
level transmitter for the core makeup
tank. And then the
other one is a safety
related harsh envi-
ronmentally quali-
fied level transmitter
for the containment
flood-up.
2.
What technol-
ogy did you use for
the level instrumen-
tation?
We
actually
used old technology
on purpose because it was inside
containment harsh environment. So, very
high radiation and very high temperatures.
Another project where we did use
new technology is taking some analog
controls off of chillers. In many cases
the chillers have been installed since the
early 1970s. The controls that control
the chiller, start the chiller, stop the
chiller, run the chiller, are very old analog
controls. The old controls can be very
problematic, a lot of nuisance trips. So,
we changed them out with a new digital
control system. Completely removed
the entire old analog controls, the old
transmitters, and transducers. Put all
new equipment on the same chiller but
digitally controlled.
3.
What was your involvement on the
mechanical side?
We purchased the rights for an
actuator design from a company called
QTRCO, and now we build the actuators
at our facility in Fort Worth, Texas. We
made a version of it that has no soft
parts. It is good for very high radiation
applications. There are no O-rings.
There are no bushings. It’s all metallic
parts.
We developed it for the Department
of Energy for their nuclear applications,
like at Hanford, Savannah River, some
of their weapons cleanup facilities where
the radiation levels are just incredibly
high, much higher than commercial
power producing plants. It was originally
developed for those very, very high
radiation applications but the design is
finding its way into commercial nuclear
power plant applications.
4.
What projects have you done that are
related to Fukushima?
Post Fukushima, most of the effort
was spent on engineering studies, coping
studies and beyond design basis event
studies.
There have been some equipment
modifications, for example, the spent fuel
level measurement.
We are supplying spent fuel level
measurement to plants that need it.
We’re doing flood barriers and flood
barrier doors. We’re doing electrical
distribution to help with small generators.
We are also offering small transfer
switches and motor control center
cubicles that have pigtails in them so you
can connect them to small generators.
Some valves, some hardened vent valves
and some other types of valves. So,
there’s been a mixture of equipment that
we’ve got involved with as a result of
post-Fukushima issues.
5.
Is AZZ/NLI engaged internationally?
We help the existing fleet in the
United States and then new construction
in the United States. And then outside
the United States, Taiwan, South Korea,
Spain, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico,
Canada, and Slovenia to date. We
have new marketing efforts in the UK,
Belgium, Switzerland, Sweden, France
and China.
We do a lot of business with the older
units in Spain. In China, we help with the
new AP1000s. South Korea and Taiwan
we’ve done business there for many years.
We are expanding in some other places in
Europe, like Belgium, Switzerland, and
Sweden.
30
NuclearPlantJournal.com Nuclear Plant Journal, September-October 2014
