Inspection
of Reactor
Internals
By Janean Sealey, Dominion Surry
Power Station.
Janean Sealey
Janean Sealey is a Generation Project
Manager at Dominion Surry Power
Station in Surry
Virginia. Janean
received her
Bachelor of Science
in Mechanical
Engineering from
Old Dominion
University, and
proceeded to earn her
Masters of Business
Administration from
Averett University
and Master of
Mechanical/Nuclear
Engineering from
Virginia Commonwealth University.
Janean started her career as a
mechanical designer in the shipbuilding
field. Upon graduation and with
encouragement from her former boss
John Lockstamper she pursued a career
in the utility industry.
Nuclear Energy Institute’s Top Industry
Practice (TIP) Awards highlight the
nuclear industry’s most innovative
techniques and ideas.
This innovation won the B. Ralph Sylvia
“Best of the Best” award.
The Dominion team members who
participated included: Janean Sealey,
Generation Project Manager; Ed
Turko, Engineering NDE Supervisor;
Christopher Allmond, Programs
Specialist III; Mike Wells, Health
Physics Supervisor; David Germano,
Civil Engineer II.
Summary
Inspections of the reactor internals
affected by aging mechanisms are re-
quired to satisfy License Renewal Com-
mitments, as specified in SER NUREG
1766,
Safety Evaluation Report Related
to the License Renewal of North Anna
Power Station, Units 1 and 2, and Surry
Power Station, Units 1 and 2
and to sup-
port Surry Power Station’s (SPS) License
Renewal Amendment (LRA). Domin-
ion’s Surry Power Station Unit 1 and 2
are Westinghouse-designed pressurized
water reactor (PWR), and have entered
the Period of Extended Operation (PEO).
The PEO for SPS was May 26, 2012 for
Unit 1 and January 30, 2013 for Unit 2.
To support the Sur-
ry-1 LRA commit-
ments, examination
of the Reactor Vessel
(RV) internals are re-
quired in accordance
with the Electric
Power Research Insti-
tute (EPRI) Materials
Reliability Program
(MRP) Pressurized
Water Reactors In-
ternals
Inspection
and
Examination
Guidelines
(I&E)
document MRP-227,
Materials Reliabil-
ity Program: Pressurized Water Reac-
tor Internals Inspection and Evaluation
Guidelines
and to fulfill the requirements
of MRP Inspection Standard for Reactor
Internals document MRP-228,
Materials
Reliability Program: Inspection Standard
for PWR Internals
. This TIP Award nom-
ination presents the success of a special
First-of-a-Kind (FOAK) examination and
automated tooling development. This cru-
cial task required overcoming challenges
of an exposed Core Barrel (CB) section as
well as very high dose rates. In addition,
there was no access to the area for tool
installation because of the temporary use
of radiation shield tanks. For example,
when the CB is placed in the stand for
examinations, the assembly protrudes out
of the Reactor Vessel Cavity (RVC) wa-
ter surface, 40 inches. This configuration
significantly elevates dose rates on the re-
fueling floor and increases dose rates for
personnel who require access to perform
the CB examinations. Based upon the
elevated dose rates for this plant configu-
ration, traditional underwater component
examination techniques (manually deliv-
ered cameras on poles) would not be ac-
ceptable. Dominion established a Project
team with AREVA to address the unique
plant configuration and the elevated dose
rates to overcome the challenge and ful-
fill the LRA required examinations. The
specific examinations to be performed on
the CB during the U1R25 Fall 2013 out-
age were: (1) the Upper Circumferential
Weld (or Upper GirthWeld), (2) the Low-
er Circumferential Weld (or Lower Girth
Weld), and (3) the Lower Flange Weld.
The most challenging examination of all
the CB examinations, the “Lower Girth
Weld”, established the basis for the proj-
ect and the tooling design requirements.
The challenges presented are due to Surry
Power Station’s access to the Lower Girth
Weld examination area through a 2.00 -
2.25 inch annular gap. Located between
the thermal shield and CB, this gap con-
tains numerous obstructions that the tool
must circumvent. The Dominion Team at
SPS was the first to successfully perform
the MRP 227/228 CB examination on a
PWR nuclear reactor with this plant con-
figuration. The Project Team overcame a
significant plant configuration and exam-
ination area access challenge to success-
fully complete the project below cumula-
tive exposure estimates. There were no
safety issues or Personnel Contamination
Events encountered during the inspection
process.
Safety
No Safety issues and no personal
contamination events or Human
Performance errors were experienced
in completing the FOAK Core Barrel
examination. This exceptional safety
performance is attributed to the Team’s
rigorous focus on Safety, the number one
priority established during all stages of
the project. In fact, the Safety priority
set the objectives to minimize personnel
radiological exposure (ALARA) and
incorporate industrial safety into the
tooling systems. Personnel access to
install and remove the tool onto the CB
in the SPS unique configuration was a
challenge because of temporary water
shield tanks installed around the core
barrel. High dose rates within the tool
installation area envelope required an
innovative tool design to enable one
44
NuclearPlantJournal.com Nuclear Plant Journal, September-October 2014
