July-August 2019 NPJ

14 NuclearPlantJournal.com Nuclear Plant Journal, July-August 2019 New Products, Services & Contracts New Products Baffle Bolts Framatome deployed an innovative new solution for ultrasonic testing of baffle bolts inside of a reactor vessel. The inspection tool, known as Falcon, has assessed up to 40 bolts per hour, saving approximately 30 hours on an outage schedule. Framatome deployed the tool during the fall 2018 and spring 2019 outage seasons. Baffle bolts, which hold the reactor vessel structure together, present a variety of inspection challenges. Due to differences in location and age, their size and level of degradation can vary significantly. Falcon includes four encoded motors that move a radiation-tolerant camera and an ultrasonic transducer along a neutrally buoyant pole that clamps to the top of a baffle plate. The device creates a stable environment for controlledmovement and placement of these tools. Revolutionary software accompanying the device records and evaluates data in seconds per bolt, saving time and improving schedule predictability during an outage. Falcon is Framatome’s third- generation solution for baffle bolt inspections, complementing the underwater submarine, SUSI. Depending on the needs of the customer, Framatome will deploy either Falcon or SUSI in the future. Contact: Framatome, telephone: (434) 856-6560, email: media.relations@ framatome.com . Services Robotic Decontamination Diakont , a provider of refueling outage tooling and services to the nuclear industry, successfully provided underwater robotic decontamination services at four nuclear power plants in Spring 2019, cleaning refueling cavities, dryer-separator pools, and a suppression pool using underwater robotic decon systems. Historically, nuclear plant operators have conducted cleaning and decontamination of these surfaces manually, after draining water from the space. However, manual decon is slow and can result in excessive personnel dose exposure. Diakont’s underwater robotic decon services present a vast improvement over manual decon because it reduces personnel dose exposure, reduces radwaste, does not impact plant chemistry, and does not risk inadvertently spreading contamination. Also, Diakont’s innovative decon method avoids the risk of personnel injury and component damage associated with hydrolasing. Additionally, in many cases, performing the decon robotically while the cavities are flooded shortens the critical path outage duration by up to four hours. The underwater robotic decon system is just one of Diakont’s latest nuclear tooling innovations, providing a step-change improvement from legacy methods. Able to decontaminate horizontal, vertical, and curved surfaces, Diakont’s tools easily navigate to areas within flooded cavities that are inaccessible to previous solutions, performing decon in parallel to other activities, including fuel movement. Also, unlike other legacy solutions, the Diakont tools do not require continuous use of an overhead crane or other method of suspension while conducting decon. The ROV-type decontamination tool attaches and drives along the cavity and component surfaces using a high-force, no-flow vortex generator, even in the presence of strong flow from Residual Heat Removal (RHR) or shutdown cooling. Efficient, effective cleaning is performed using a rugged brushing action that detaches the crud, while vacuuming it away using strong suction into the plant’s existing filtration system. Contact: Jacco Goemans, Diakont, telephone: (858) 551-5551. Contracts Coating Technologies Framatome launched a suite of new protective coatings approved for use in plant applications that reduce maintenance costs and extend the operating life of components and equipment across the energy sector, including in nuclear power plants. QuarTec TM coatings minimize the adherence of radiological contaminants to the surface of components and equipment while also reducing the accumulation of aquatic growth common in underwater environments without affecting plant chemistry systems. This advanced quartz hydrophobic technology makes the components and equipment easier to maintain and less costly to clean. Framatome recently signed a contract with U.S. utility Dominion Energy to complete the industry’s first application of the QuarTec solution to address biofouling concerns associated with the emergency service water pump at the Surry Power Station. This pump provides cooling water from the James River to essential plant heat exchangers; coating the pump will reduce operating and maintenance costs for this water system. The coated pump was placed in service at Surry in early 2019, with additional service water components currently being coated to address aquatic growth issues. Framatome tested the QuarTec protective hydrophobic coatings during the spring 2018 outage in an operating nuclear power plant in the U.S. and received confirmation of their capabilities through third party validations over the past three years. Contact: Framatome, telephone: (434) 856-6560, email: media.relations@ framatome.com . Decommissioning GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) has been awarded a contract by Comprehensive Decommissioning International, LLC (CDI) to decommission reactor internals and the reactor pressure vessel at the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station in Lacey Township, New Jersey. Employing cutting edge technology, GEH will dismantle, segment and pack reactor internals and the reactor pressure vessel of the boiling water reactor that was shut down in September 2018. All handling and segmentation will be carried out underwater and will be accomplished using the Primary Segmentation System that was designed in conjunction with REI Nuclear. GEH acquired the business and certain assets of REI Nuclear in December 2018. Contact: Jon Allen, GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy, telephone: (910) 819- 2581, email: jonathan.allen1@ge.com .