Online
Asbestos
Abatement
Mark Lloyd, American Electric Power,
Nuclear Generation.
Mark Lloyd
Mark Lloyd is the Engineering Vice
President for American Electric Power’s
(AEP) Nuclear Generation, responsible
for the execution of major projects,
design engineering, plant engineering,
nuclear fuel and safety analysis.
Lloyd joined AEP in May 2013 prior
to which he worked at Westinghouse
Electric Company for 19 years, holding
the positions of the Vice President of
New Plant Business Development,
Director of New Plant Business
Development, Fuel Business Manager
and Thermal Hydraulic Design
Engineer. He also worked for two
years in Westinghouse’s Continuous
Improvement organization, implementing
Lean and Six Sigma projects.
Lloyd attended The Pennsylvania State
University, graduating with a bachelor’s
degree in nuclear engineering in 1992
and a master’s degree in nuclear
engineering in 1994.
Nuclear Energy Institute’s Top Industry
Practice (TIP) Awards highlight the
nuclear industry’s most innovative
techniques and ideas.
This innovation won the 2016
Maintenance Award.
AEP team members who participated
included Bryan Horvath, Construction
Manager ; Jim Petrides, Project
Manager ; Jeff LaDuke, Portfolio
Manager.
The AEP, DC Cook Projects
Department evaluated the required
work necessary to remove & replace
feedwater heaters (FWHs) during their
Spring 2014 Outage. The Projects Team
determined that they needed to remove
asbestos insulation from the 5A and 5B
FWHs with approximately 600 lineal
feet of piping while online to prevent
negatively impacting outage duration. If
this material would have been removed
during the Outage, the duration would
have been extended approximately 10 ½
days. Additional efficiencies were gained
by removing this material online allowing
visual inspection of the bare piping,
vessels, and equipment including cut lines
prior to the Outage start. This resulted
in improved planning, scheduling and
ultimately reducing work area congestion
during the outage itself.
A diverse project team comprised of
industrial safety experts, craft insulators,
construction mangers and project
managers was assembled and presented
the challenge of online asbestos
abatement from the FWHs and associated
steam piping while at full temperature and
pressure. The primary goal was clearly
communicated that there could be no
injuries, including burns and heat related
events. The actual metal temperature of
the FWH shell was measured at 392
⁰
F,
so the team knew they had a daunting
challenge. Ultimately the project was
completed successfully as scheduled, on
budget, and most importantly performed
with Zero Harm. There were no burns,
no heat related injuries, and no other
industrial injuries. The full realization of
outage benefit was obtained.
The key to the success of this project
lies in the innovative techniques used
to educate workers on the hazards of
heat stress, get them involved up front
in developing prevention strategies, and
using a multi-tiered approach to manage
jobsite conditions and personal heat
tolerance. There were no proprietary
techniques, methods or evaluations
used. As demonstrated here, a wealth of
information from industry experts was
compiled to develop a sound, repeatable
process for preventing heat related
injuries while working in challenging,
high-heat environments.
Safety
AEP met with Physicians from their
Occupational Health Clinic to discuss
job conditions, work environment,
and physiological demands of
workers due to elevated temperatures
while wearing personnel protective
equipment (PPE). They determined
that workers would need to pass a
revised, more stringent physical to
ensure they could work this project
safely.
Each specific abatement area
was evaluated to determine the
appropriate design of the work area
and potential engineering controls
to reduce physiological stress on
workers.
The labor team was selected and
instituted specific communications
to inform them of the of the
upcoming work environments and
potential hazards. The Project Team
and Industrial safety personnel
assembled training packages to
improve skill sets of Supervisors and
workers. AEP instituted & performed
site specific, pre-job training for
Supervisors with comprehension
evaluations.
The team recognized that they
needed to acclimate all workers
and supervisors to the elevated
temperatures
that
would
be
encountered in the negative pressure
enclosures. They took advantage of
preparatory activities like staging of
materials as well as the set-up of the
enclosures as a work task that would
allow them to begin the acclimation
process. They further educated
the craft and got them involved
by discussing necessary pre-work
hydration with appropriate fluids
(mostly plain water) and by limiting
alcohol, tea, coffee and beverages
with large amounts of sugar &
caffeine.
AEP took wet bulb temperature
readings of their work areas and
communicated these readings to all
of their team members to ensure
everyone had as much available
information as possible, to assist in
the decision making processes.
As they began the setup of Negative
Pressure Enclosure (NPE), they
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NuclearPlantJournal.com Nuclear Plant Journal, September-October 2016
